Vreeland and Langell Earn Girl Scout Gold Award
Submitted by Margaret Keegan
Two Long Hill Township Girl Scouts, Kathleen Vreeland and Kayla Langell, earned the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award this June. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable—proof that not only can she make a difference, but that she already has.
Seniors and Ambassadors who earn the Gold Award tackle issues that are dear to them and drive lasting change in their communities and beyond. The project focuses on an issue in the local community, region or international community and includes provisions to ensure sustainability. Gold award projects are typically 80-100 hours in duration and are approved by a Gold Award Advisory Committee at the local Girl Scout council level.
Kathleen Vreeland was passionate about the environmental issue of wasteful food containers in Nanpol, Haiti. Kathleen worked with Haiti’s Hope, an organization from St. Vincent de Paul Church that improves living conditions for their sister parish, St. Paul’s Parish in Nanpol, Haiti. Previously, Kathleen worked with Haiti’s Hope to provide meals for 150 children in the village. Kathleen was inspired to continue helping these children in a positive and sustainable manner while decreasing the environmental pollution plaguing the area. Kathleen worked with the Pastor of St. Paul’s Parish and was able to provide reusable plates and cutlery for the meals provided through Haiti’s Hope.
Kathleen organized a clothing drive fundraiser with the help of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Watchung Hills High School and Long Hill Girl Scouts. As a result of these collaborative efforts Kathleen was able to fund sending 160 plates and cutlery sets to Nanpol while significantly reducing styrofoam consumption impacting the area. This Gold Award project has allowed Kathleen to both educate our community on important environmental issues while showing that taking action formulating and implementing a plan can make a difference.
Kayla Langell was inspired by her love of field hockey to bring more awareness of the sport to young girls in her community. Originally, Kayla planned to host her own intro to field hockey clinic but due to Covid restrictions she shifted plans and worked alongside professional coaches in a 6 week field hockey camp. At the camp Kayla not only provided instructional handouts to the players but developed fun, skills and drills activities while giving the girls insight into the future of playing for a high school team.
Additionally, Kayla developed a very user-friendly Shutterfly webpage for Long Hill Township’s 5th-8th grade recreation field hockey program. This site provides all the details for parents and girls that are interested in learning more about the local team and field hockey in general. The website can be visited at longhillfh.shutterfly.com/.
Kayla hopes her Gold Award inspires young players to develop her same love for the sport of field hockey.
