At the Elwood School District Board of Education’s Dec. 8 meeting, Elwood-John H. Glenn High School Principal Corey McNamara recognized four groups of Girl Scout Silver Award recipients: Maeve O’Connor, Jacqueline O’Grady, Megan Scully and Rebecca Stawecki of Girl Scout Troop 1619, for their project on reducing sea pollution and helping sea life; Elizabeth Benavides and Elliott Baravarian of Girl Scout Troop 1619, for a project focused on raising awareness about the importance of bat conservation; Ava Haddad, Louise Hartough, Megan LaMena and Nora Truncale of Girl Scout Troop 1619, for their Greetings for Grandparents project, in which they designed and built a greeting card station to donate to an assisted living facility in Huntington; and Magdalena Brchnel, Olivia LoBue and Sophia Vitevitch of Girl Scout Troop 2597, for their work on creating a website featuring the history of Elwood’s Little Red Schoolhouse. Scouts must volunteer over 50 hours of community service and strive to make a difference or raise awareness in their community in the field that interests them in order to earn the Silver Award.

“The Girl Scouts recognized tonight are serving as outstanding role models, not only for younger Daisies, Brownies, Juniors and Cadets, but for all students within the Elwood community,” McNamara said. “Thank you for sharing your passion with us, and please know that the real celebration comes from the positive influence and impact you have made and continue to make.
 
“Community service is something that is clearly evidenced by these students, who went above and beyond to accomplish extraordinary things and obtain extraordinary designation,” Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Bossert said.

The student recognitions were preceded by a moment of silence in memory of retired Elwood teacher and environmentalist Joy Squires, and a marvelous performance of holiday songs by Italian language students from Elwood Middle School.

Date Added: 12/16/2022