THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604240163
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATHRYN DARLING, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
IF GIRL SCOUT TROOPS were given awards for teamwork, Troop 97 in Norfolk likely would get top honors.
On Saturday, 12 members of Troop 97 received the highest award in Girl Scouting: the Gold Award.
The recipients are Katie Bennett, Katie Clemons, Jennifer Goode, Shannon Harty, Margaret Johnson, Jamie Krenek, Crystal Lipscomb, Antoinnette ``Rosie'' Panos, Nicole Raney, Angela Riedel, Dorian Tinaro and Heather Toro.
To earn the award, the girls fulfilled requirements for badges and leadership projects. Then they worked independently to develop and implement a final requirement, the gold project.
The project, which must take at least four months to complete, demonstrates skills the Scout has developed, and helps her practice leadership and explore career possibilities. All of the Gold Award projects for Troop 97 were related to education.
The gold award is given to an individual to signify personal achievement. But rather than have their own day of recognition, the girls of Troop 97 made the awards ceremony a team goal. They decided they wanted to celebrate together. Although some of the girls finished their projects last fall or early this year, they waited for the awards ceremony in April.
Norfolk Collegiate sophomore Heather Toro, for instance, worked on her project last summer and completed it during Christmas break.
She said it was a team goal to celebrate together, sort of a ``positive peer pressure.''
``No one wanted to be the one not to get their gold,'' she said.
At times, the effort and the amount of time the projects required seemed overwhelming when added to a full academic schedule and other high school activities such as cheerleading or soccer or swim teams.
When discouragement set in, the other members of the troop would encourage each other.
``We all wanted to do this,'' Katie Clemmons said. ``If someone was tired or didn't think we could do that, we would say, this is not so bad. We can do this in two days, and we would help them.''
Another reason this team has been so successful is the leader's influence. Kathy Bennett, 48, who was never a Girl Scout, has been the motivating force behind the girls. Bennett said she got involved in the program 12 years ago when her daughter Katie's Brownie troop leader quit. She wanted her daughter to stay in Scouting, so she took over as leader. Four of the 12 who earned the Gold Award were in that original Brownie troop.
Bennett, who lives in the Wedgewood area of Norfolk, said she pushed the girls to succeed.
She told them that ``probably by the time they were done with this they would hate me - I pushed the tar out of them.''
The Gold Award winners are grateful for Bennett's firm guidance.
Crystal Lipscomb, 17, said, ``I am so unmotivated. Kathy had to drag me the whole way.''
Bennett knew that most Scouts drop out in the senior level - grades 10, 11 and 12 - but she wanted these girls to succeed. She realized that as important as the Scouting agenda is, meeting the girls' individual needs was equally important. Realizing that, Bennett kept the troop's plans flexible.
She and her co-leaders, Nancy Toro and Judy Johnson, also made it fun to be a Girl Scout in Troop 97. Every summer the troop takes a major trip. The troop has been to Canada, Pennsylvania, and twice to Washington, D.C., and Disney World.
Those trips gave the girls something to work for throughout the year. Clemmons said the trips cemented them as a group.
Bennett said that in addition to being fun, the trips taught the girls how to get along with each other, and how to respect other people and their belongings.
Each year, the girls raised money for the trips through calendar sales, car washes and cookie sales. Last year, Troop 97 sold more than 4,800 boxes of cookies. Katie Bennett sold the most. She sold 2,687 boxes of cookies.
Parents also pitch in, making monthly payments of $20 toward the trip. Families that can't afford the whole amount pay what they can. No one is left out.
As a result, Troop 97 learned to function as a team. Those who are 18 will move into the Girl Scouts' adults category, where they may become co-leaders and help with Scouting programs. MEMO: GOLD AWARDS
Katie Bennett, a Norview High School junior, constructed world globes
and developed geographical games that taught continents, oceans and
compass direction for second-grade classes at St. Pius X School.
Katie Clemons, a junior at Norview High School, was writer, director,
costume and set designer, and producer of a Christmas play for an
after-school inner-city group of children at Park Place Church.
Jennifer Goode, a senior at Granby High School, is the lieutenant
governor of Division 16 for Capital District Key Clubs. Under her
direction, 12 Key Clubs made get-well and cheer cards for patients at
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. They also developed story
tapes for the children.
Shannon Harty, of Virginia Beach and a junior at Catholic High
School, constructed games to be used at school carnivals and other
fund-raising activities for Little Creek Elementary School.
Margaret Johnson, a senior at Norview High School, constructed new
games and rejuvenated old games used at bazaars, Halloween parties and
student fund days for St. Pius X School.
Jamie Krenek, drew and painted a 20-foot music mural on a wall at
Norview High School, where she is a senior.
Crystal Lipscomb, a senior at Lake Taylor High School, aided in
developing a religious program for children of the parish who do not
attend St. Pius X school.
Antoinnette Panos, a senior at Lake Taylor High School, worked to
beautify Young Park Elementary School's park by constructing borders for
the seven trees and planting seeds.
Nichole Raney, a senior at Lake Taylor High School, designed and
constructed a cabinet for her high school swim team's second-place
trophies.
Angela Riedel, a senior at Lake Taylor High School, gave lectures to
classes at St. Pius X School about the month she spent in Israel as a
student ambassador. The lectures highlighted cultural similarities and
differences.
Dorian Tinaro, a senior at Norview High School, designed and
constructed math and language learning games for second-graders at St.
Pius X School.
Heather Toro of Norfolk, a sophomore at Norfolk Collegiate School,
constructed learning aids for a preschool class at St. Pius School. She
also has worked in the classroom when her school is not in session. by CNB