Girl Scout Troop 26 Spruces Up Camp Whippoorwill

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To earn their Silver Award, Cadettes from Girl Scout Troop 26 had to identify a way they could make their community better. They didn’t have to think long before settling on renovations at Camp Whippoorwill, the site where they have camped for eight years.

During a recent ceremony at Beefalo Bob’s Reflections Banquet Hall, 19 middle school Girl Scout Cadettes from Girl Scout Troop 26 received their Silver Awards for renovating six areas of the Camp Whippoorwill big house. Troop leaders Melissa Thomas and Tina Collins spoke highly of the intensive work completed by the Cadettes.

“Typical girls plant a community garden at their school, inspire others to eat healthily, advocate for animal rights, or even construct a Little Library for community books, just to name a few [projects],” Thomas said. “But your daughters, being the future leaders they are, joined together and selected a very ambitious Silver Award project that holds a special place in all of their hearts.”

The Silver Award represents the highest honor a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. Racking up more than 70 volunteer hours during the holidays, the girls had many tasks. They coordinated a car wash and bake sale to pay for the flooring materials and other supplies, which included nails, lumber, more than 20 gallons of paint, mirrors, toilet paper holders, towel hooks, benches, shower curtains, light fixtures and much more.

They uprooted old flooring, patched walls, assembled bookcases and hauled furniture with help from adult supervisors.

Taylor Persons — with the help of her grandmother, Brenda Persons — sewed more than 40 sets of curtains for the windows so all of the windows would match. Kyela Jacob — with the help of parents Monique and Tim Jacob — hand-cut, sanded and painted more than 80 wood Girl Scout trefoils to make window treatment tie-backs. Autumn Cook, with the help of Linda Phillips, installed vinyl wallcovering murals.

The girls were divided into six groups and assigned an area of work, but they all worked together to complete the renovations. “To top off their ambitious Silver Award project, they set a goal to complete their Silver Award before one of their fellow Girl Scouts moved away,” Thomas added.

Girl Scout Troop 26 is Kayla Marshall, Jessica Liles, Gabrielle Collins, Allison Thomas, Skyler Phillips, Madison Marshall, Caitlin Blackwelder, Sarah Radvansky, Jessica Weldon, Mackenzie Marshall, Taylor Persons, Jocelyn Gordon, Samantha Greenstreet, Kennedy Perry, Isabelle Samuel, Noelle Bull, Autumn Cook, Maryssa Backstrom and Kyela Jacob.

The troop had help from Andonian’s Carpet Warehouse, which sold flooring materials to the girls at a great discount while also installing the flooring. The staff at C&R Electric donated materials and labor, replacing all of the electrical outlets and light switches throughout the Camp Whippoorwill big house.

Other donations came from Home Depot of Pasadena, Home Depot of Glen Burnie, Lowe’s of Elkridge, Costello’s Ace Hardware & Hearth in Pasadena, Ace Hardware of Glen Burnie, Ikea, Clements Hardware of Severna Park, Sherwin-Williams of Severna Park, GMC Contractors and more than 27 people.

Each of those businesses and people encouraged members of Girl Scout Troop 26 to make an impact in their community.

“We have watched many of these 5-year-old, pig-tailed, grade-school girls grow into these young, kind, talented and wonderful ladies you see before you,” Collins told the crowd at the Silver Award ceremony. “They challenge us in a good way, sometimes test our patience, and inspire us to be better than we are.”

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