Area Girl Scouts earn top honors

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Connor Savage

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Updated: November 25, 2011 12:22AM

Bartlett residents Elizabeth Gorski and Diana Lewis — along with Danielle Browne of South Elgin, Vanessa Mountain of Algonquin and Connor Savage of Lake in the Hills — were among 27 Girl Scouts in northern Illinois who earned the Girl Scout Gold Award in 2011.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award in Girl Scouts, It focuses on a 14- to 18-year-old Girl Scout’s interests and personal journey through learning leadership skills, career exploration, self-improvement and service. For many girls, these skills, organizational proficiency and sense of community and commitment that come from “going for the gold” set the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship.

Gorski organized a dog walk-a-thon at the James “Pate” Philip Nature Center in Bartlett. Participants brought their dogs and donations to be distributed to local organizations, including Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin and the Hanover Township Food Pantry. Attendees walked their dogs on a two-mile course and then participated in fun contests and games. “I chose this as my project because Bartlett is such a dog-oriented community, yet still there is so much need at local shelters and organizations,” Gorski says. “I needed to raise community awareness!”

Lewis helped with the dog walk at the nature center. Booths were set up at the event so local dog-related businesses could educate and interact with the public. More than 100 donations were collected at the event. Participants played games, received prizes and had fun with their canine friends. “I am considering veterinary medicine as a career choice,” Lewis says. “I wanted to do something that might give me some background on dogs while helping them out.”

Browne’s project focused on restoring the historical garden at the Durant House Museum, an 1843 brick farmstead at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve at St. Charles. The garden had been closed to the public for the past three years due to an invasion of deer, Japanese beetles and poisons from a nearby walnut tree. Browne carefully planned out the restoration of the garden and recruited community members to make those plans a reality. The lot was cleared, and the fence was fixed. “The Durant Museum is a place for generations to come together to learn about self-sufficient living and how our community has advanced over many generations,” Browne says. “The garden is a representation of Illinois history that was slowly being forgotten. I wouldn’t let that happen!”

Mountain’s goal was to raise awareness of the importance of good nutrition. She accomplished this by writing informative cookbooks for the Algonquin/Lake in the Hills Food Pantry. The recipes were healthy and helped incorporate government commodities. “I myself had to learn more about proper eating habits through this project,” Mountain noted.

Savage worked with her troop to organize a food drive and a blood drive during a community health awareness fair. The girls hosted a food drive for five weeks prior to the fair and collected items at the fair. More than 700 nonperishable food items were donated, along with $110 to be given to the Crystal Lake Food Pantry. At the fair, the girls were able to recruit donors who generously gave 40 units of blood. “I chose this project to help people in need in my community and to make people more aware of local issues,” Savage says.

Gorski, Lewis, Browne, Mountain and Savage were honored for their accomplishments at Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois’ recent Young Women of Distinction event.

Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois serves more than 20,000 girls and nearly 6,000 adult volunteers in parts or all of Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties. To learn more, call 800-242-5591 or visit the website at www.girlscoutsni.org.