Shaye Bundonis Receives Gold Award
Long Hill Girl Scout Service Unit
Shaye Bundonis of Gillette, NJ, has been a member of Girl Scout Troop 95050 since kindergarten. Shaye is currently a Junior at Watchung Hills. She is a swimmer with Streamline Aquatics and varsity WHRHS. Shaye is a lifeguard at several local pools. She hopes to study nursing in college as well as swim at the college level.
Troop 95050 completed their Bronze award by creating a play area on the blacktop behind Millington School. Shaye’s Silver Award benefited the Somerset County food bank’s backpack program providing food to children in need.
Shaye always had a goal to accomplish her Gold Award and once she had a project in mind, she was surprised by how fast she accomplished it and how great it felt to complete something she believed in. Shaye’s project involved adapting toys to make them switch accessible for people with disabilities. Many toys require precise fine motor skills to engage them, making them switch accessible allows all children to access the toys and play. Switch adapted toys also cost hundreds of dollars each and the switch is usually about $60, making them cost prohibitive to families and programs for people with disabilities. This idea began when researching her silver award and taking a course in NYC on how to adapt toys. Shaye realized she was skilled at soldering and liked solving the puzzles of how to adapt the toys. This project was not going to work for her silver award project but she kept it in mind and worked on the plan for her Gold Award.
Shaye created a wish list on Amazon, running a toy and equipment drive. Many people in the community participated by sending toys, wiring, batteries and additional items needed to adapt over 30 toys. Some of the toys included bubble machines, plush motorized animals, spin art, fans, a pitching machine and more. She was able to source switches to include with the toys through a vendor on Etsy at $8 each, which was funded through a troop stipend from cookie sales.
To create increased awareness and teach others in the community about the project, Shaye participated in a community service night in which she taught girl scouts, leaders and families how to make battery interrupters that can be used to make any battery operated toy temporarily switch accessible. This was a good STEM learning experience as well as creating disability awareness. During the event they were able to create over 30 battery interrupters that were also donated with each toy.
Shaye was able to donate toys to numerous local programs including the special education programs in Long Hill and Berkeley Heights schools, Matheny Medical Center, New Concepts for Living, and 1st Cerebral Palsy of New Jersey. Each package included a switch adapted toy, a new switch and a battery interrupter as well as instructions on how to create and use a battery interrupter.
Shaye was able to spend the day volunteering at 1st Cerebral Palsy and even help run a group teaching the kids how to use switches. The day was very fulfilling and she wished she could have provided even more battery interrupters
Following the completion of her project, Shaye now has a few exciting extra opportunities to take the project further, including acting as a lab assistant to an Occupational Therapy program in a local university where they learn how to adapt toys. She also has begun talking with Target executives to bring accessible toy options into stores.
This project has taught Shaye that she can accomplish a goal one step at a time, that she likes helping others and solving problems. The leadership and management skills she developed will continue to grow.
Shaye wants to thank all those who helped support her project from donating items, helping with ideas and providing encouragement. This was a great project experience and she is very proud of the outcomes.
Courtesy photos
