West Hempstead Girl Scout goes for the Gold

Melyssa Neumann, of West Hempstead, received her gold award at the Girl Scout Gold Award ceremony on June 3 at Adelphi University.

Neumann is a senior at West Hempstead High School, where she is active in soccer, swimming, track and the Tri-M music society. At the ceremony, Neumann, along with the other 67 girl scouts receiving the award this year, was honored by girl scouts from all around Nassau County for her hard work and determination.

In order to receive this prestigious award, senior level girl scouts must first complete 65 hours of community service. It is only then that they can begin the project. For her project, titled “Phoenix Soccer Team,” Neumann got a group of girls from the community together to form a soccer team. Together the girls not only learned how to play the game of soccer, they also learned sportsmanship, proper physical exercise, self confidence and the ability to resist destructive decisions.

“Girl Scouts who achieve the Gold Award demonstrate personality and determination as well as immaculate time management and organizational skills,” said Donna Ceravolo, executive director of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County. “They have joined an elite group of American women who are part of the Girl Scouts of the USA’s Gold Award Alliance.”

The award is meant to help girls develop leadership skills and explore different career paths. Overall the award is meant to span over an estimated three years in length, all the while helping the girls learn about arts and humanities, cultural and global relations, personal well-being, technology and science, and any one if the innumerable issues facing young woman today.

In addition to the Gold Award, the girls were honored with certificates of their achievements by Nassau County Executive, Edward Mangano. Boy scouts receiving the Eagle Award were also given certificates at this ceremony.

The Girl Scouts of Nassau County says its an organization whose mission is to help girls build courage, confidence and character, while also creating an accepting and nurturing environment that gives girls the chance they need to receive skills for success in the real world. It has more than 22,000 girls and 7,000 adult members.

With that many members, getting the Gold Award is an honorable and rare event. “We are so proud of all 67 young women who earned their Gold Award this year,” Ceravolo said. “Just five percent of eligible Girl Scouts choose to ‘Go for the Gold’ and we are happy for those that achieved this honor.”

For more information on the Girl Scouts of Nassau County visit www.gsnc.org.