Cadette Girl Scouts Lauren England, Madison Pardo and Gabriella Scipioni, lead by Girl Scout Leader Alicia Scipioni, wanted to take action to help end hunger and to help educate children about making healthy eating choices. They ultimately decided to create a sustainable garden for the Valley Road Elementary School which would also help them earn their Silver Award. The Silver Award is the second highest award of the Girl Scouts of the USA, and the highest award that a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. Only Cadette Scouts ages 11–14 or in grades 6-8 can earn the Silver Award. The girl scouts wanted to give back to their community and create a garden for their former elementary school. The Scouts named the garden “The VRS Learning Garden.” It is their goal for the garden to become a STEM project for students and a source of food that can be donated to local food pantries
To accomplish their project, the Girl Scouts reached out to Mrs. Pinto (formerly Miss Fisher), a second grade teacher who was also excited about the idea and became their advisor during the planning and creating of the project. Mrs. Pinto will use the garden with her second graders as a cross-curriculum project that will encourage not only good nutrition,but also give them a hands on approach to learning. The students can predict, observe and collect data as they work with the garden. They can also donate the foods they grow to local food pantries, as a way of paying it forward.
The garden was created in a large 25 foot U-shape within the school’s courtyard so students can easily assemble around it to harvest and plant crops. At completion of their project, the Cadettes were excited to present Mrs. Pinto with picture books she can use in her classroom to further enhance her students’ learning. Many people lent a handing in helping the girls receive their award. Mr. Fisher, who is a farmer, was very resourceful. He helped the Cadettes enrich the soil, decide which seeds to plant first and helped set-up a self-watering system.
The Girl Scout Cadettes would like to thank parent volunteers Valentino Scipioni and Mark England for teaching the girls carpentry skills so they could build the garden from scratch using railroad ties and make signs. They would also like to thank principal, Joseph Beltramba and the Clark Board of Education for all of their support throughout the project. Lastly, the girls would like to thank Bartell Farm and Garden Supply of Clark and Home Depot of Colonia for all of their donations.
(above l-r) Mrs. Pinto, Gabriella Scipioni, Madison Pardo, Lauren England and VRS Principal, Joseph Beltramba
