Newtown’s latest Girl Scout Gold Award earners created a range of projects to support their communities, and they were celebrated at a Gold Award Ceremony, held at Newtown United Methodist Church on June 22.

While standing near one another before the event began, the girls said they were proud and excited.

“We’ve all put so many hours of effort into this project,” said Sabrina Boccuzzi, one of the eight girls who recently earned the Gold Award.

Five of the awardees are from Girl Scout Troop 50617 and three are “Juliette Scouts,” a term for independent Girl Scouts. Three of the projects have been chosen to represent the state at the national level of the program.

“I am so very, very proud of them,” Girl Scout Troop 50617 Leader Antoinette Capodicci said, just as the ceremony was about to begin.

The ceremony included a presentation of colors, an invocation, and sharing descriptions of each of the Gold Award projects. Speakers at the event included State Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-Newtown), First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, and Girl Scouts of Connecticut Director of Program Linda Kalish. Rep Bolinsky presented a state citation to recognize each of the girls’ accomplishments, and Mr Rosenthal presented a proclamation.

“We know that every girl who earned the Gold Award has made the world a better place in some unique way,” Ms Kalish said.

Descriptions for each Gold Award project were shared in a pamphlet for the event.

Sabrina Boccuzzi established a “seed bank” at C.H. Booth Library. The seed bank enables patrons to “check out” seeds, plant them, and return them to be “checked out” again, according to the project’s description. “The goal is to acclimate the seeds to local soil to increase their chances of survival, thus expanding the variety of locally-thriving flora. The library has taken over the seed bank and will continue to update the materials she created so seeds will grow in her community and help sustain our climate. Sabrina will graduate from Newtown High School in 2020, and she hopes to study photography in the future,” the pamphlet reads.

For her project, Kat Bonomo wanted to “spread awareness of and encourage action on today’s most pressing environmental issues.” According to the pamphlet, “Kat founded the Eco-Friends club at Pomperaug High School. The club’s central accomplishment was ‘Eco Week’ last October, an entire school week dedicated to educating her community about climate change and clean water. Club members engaged their classmates in discussion all week long with visual aids and supporting materials. Eco-Friends will continue after Kat graduates this year, with new officers replacing her and the other founding members.”

Sabrina Capodicci’s project centered on creating resources for families of Alzheimer’s patients. She created a set of books, available for free online to download in several languages. “The books contain stories and activities as well as conversation starters for people of different generations, all outfitted with options to fill in personalized information and photos. These are especially useful for patients who live in facilities or otherwise separate from their loved ones. The books are available on a website which will never expire, and Sabrina plans to continue to recruit polyglot students to translate the stories into more languages. She will graduate from the Canterbury School in 2020,” according to the pamphlet.

Emma DaSilva focused on healthy dietary habits for her project. “Emma organized ‘Mission Nutrition,’ creating recipes (in both English and Spanish) based on commonly donated ingredients at food pantries and sponsored food drives at five pantries across the state. She plans to sustain the project’s impact by consistently updating its website with new and inclusive recipes. Upon her graduation from Newtown High School this year, she will turn her ambitions toward a career in the medical field,” the pamphlet reads.

Catherine Marie de Fonseca Pinto Herrick, who could not attend the Gold Award ceremony, created an income-generating activities (IGA) program in Nakaseke, Uganda, “instructing parents in new skill sets such as knitting, crocheting, and jewelry-making so that they might expand their incomes and afford an education for their children. The courses she instituted will continue to allow parents to improve their individual (and, by extension, collective) economic circumstances. She aims to become a physician,” according to the pamphlet. The IGA was created to support Grace’s Promise Inc, a nonprofit based in Sandy Hook.

Anastasia Meltzer created a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) monthly activity group at her local library called “STEM with Anastasia,” according to the pamphlet. “Once a month, she and her students created science and construction projects using common household items. Her goal was to expose children, especially girls, to the possibilities of STEM fields in a way she had never been exposed to them herself. Volunteers from the robotics team at the local public high school will continue the program in Anastasia’s stead once she graduates from Our Lady of Mercy Lauralton Hall next year,” the pamphlet reads.

Marianella Salinas, a student at The Westover School, created a “WISE on FYER” (Women in Science and Engineering on Future Young Educated Role-Models) annual three-month-long STEAM outreach program for girls of color at her school in partnership with Save Girls on FYER, a nonprofit organization based in Waterbury. “She hoped to break down barriers of gender and background to allow local young women to explore their interests and potential in STEM fields. The Westover School will sustain the program after she graduates in 2020. She hopes to study engineering and then proceed to medical school,” according to the pamphlet. Marianella said, before the ceremony began, she hopes her project inspires other Hispanic girls.

For her project, Maya Welber created an “Abilities with Possibilities” craft group at the C.H. Booth Library. “She intended her craft hour to challenge kids to hone their fine motor skills while creating something. Her craft club, composed mostly of 8- to 13-year-olds, meets in the library once a month under the supervision of Maya and two fellow volunteers. Upon her graduation from Lauralton Hall in 2020, she will select student volunteers from the Best Buddies program to sustain the club,” the pamphlet reads.

Catherine, Sabrina, and Marianella’s projects were each chosen to represent the state at the national level.