CF Girls Scouts earn silver awards

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Three Chadds Ford Girl Scouts
have completed requirements for the Silver Award, the highest award in the
Cadette group. Ninth-graders Jessica Oehler and Annie Dempsey designed and
built sensory stations for an equestrian trail, while Katie Dempsey created a
mobile book library for a middle school in North Philadelphia.

Jessica and Annie will be
attending Unionville High School this year. Katie will attend Archmere Academy
in Claymont.

According to the girls’ mothers,
Valerie Oehler and Karen Dempsey, the girls learned organizational and
leadership skills while working on their projects.

Katie Dempsey’s project
benefitted the Hope Partnership for Education, a private middle school in
Philadelphia. She found donors who provided a cart and more than 300 books. She
then made spine labels and put in book pockets.

The school, while private, is
too poor to have a library room. The cart and donated books serve as the
school’s library.

Part of the project, said
Katie’s mother, was to find businesses that would provide supplies. Demco, a
library supply company, donated the cart, Karen Dempsey said.

The project
took from last September until this August.

Jessica and
Annie designed the sensory trail for physical therapist Dr. Robin Langerhans
who runs Making Strides Hippotherapy providing physical therapy and
rehabilitation services on Brinton’s Bridge Road in Birmingham Township.

The trail is
for special needs children, Jessica said.

“It helps
kids get more out of their lessons,” she said.

“It works
with their motor abilities to give them more balance,” Annie Dempsey added. “We
used sensory stations as well in an arena to just let them have fun while
having therapy.”

The
stations, which include mailboxes, puzzles and chalkboards, allow the kids to
multi-task, work with their hands and improve their motor abilities and balance
while they’re on the horse, said Jessica.

Valerie
Oehler explained that the Silver Award is for a community-based project with a
minimum of 40 hours and no more than two girls can work on the project
together. “It must also be a sustainable project that will continue upon
completion,” she added.

As Senior Girl Scouts they can
go after the Gold Award, equivalent to Eagle Scout for boys.

Each of the
girls said they want to continue on with scouting. Annie said she wants to earn
the Gold Award and said she wants to look back and say she helped people and
made a difference.

Katie also
wants to earn the Gold Award and maybe become a scout leader.

“I’ll
probably volunteer a lot more in my adult life,” she said. “[This project]
really opened my eyes to all the poverty and hurting in North Philadelphia.”

Jessica,
too, wants to earn the gold and also thinks she’ll volunteer more.

“It’s a good
feeling to help other people. I really want to keep on doing that,” she said.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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  1. jeanne-marie

    Congratulations girls. This is quite an accomplishment and I am proud of all of you.

    Ms. Curtis, CFE

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