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Photo by Fritz Rethage  ·      Posted June 19, 2004
[2003 Gold Award Ceremony]

Bookmarks --
Photo & Story
Program Details & Biographies
Mayor & Council Proclamations for:
Vanessa Generelli, Meghan McDowell, Elizabeth Stroedecke and Emily Wallace

The Gold Award recipients seated (l-r) are Vanessa Generelli, Meghan McDowell, Elizabeth Stroedecke and Emily Wallace, with Mary Kathleen Wallace and the Troop 519 Color Guard.

Girl Scouts Gold Award Ceremony

Girl Scout Troop 519 conducted a Gold Award Ceremony at the Corpus Christi Chapel at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, 2004. The honorees were Vanessa Generelli, Meghan McDowell, Elizabeth Stroedecke and Emily Wallace

The program began with welcoming remarks by Kathy Van Jura (Service Unit Manager), followed by the Color Guard entrance.  A Flag Ceremony included Pledge to The Flag and Girl Scout Promise & Laws. Invocations were made by Cathleen Carris & Mary Kathleen Wallace. Remarks were made by Kathy Van Jura.

Kerri McDowell, Teresa Sterlacci, Julie Baum gave the requirements for the Gold Award. Blessing of pins was made by Fr. Jim Whelan, Gold Award Chargewas provided by Cristina Iribarne and Joyce Risalvato. followed by the presentation of the pins.

Presentations were made by several community groups (see below).

Each of the Gold Award recipients made remarks, which was followed by the closing of the ceremony.
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Program details:

The Girl Scout Promise
On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law

The Girl Scout Law
I will do my best: To be honest To be fair To help where I am needed To be cheerful To be friendly To be a sister to every Girl Scout To respect authority To use resources wisely To protect and improve the world around me To show respect for myself and others through my words and actions

Invocation
Heavenly Father, bless us all gathered here to recognize the outstanding achievements of our sisters, Vanessa, Meghan, Elizabeth, and Emily. Bless all of those who have led and encouraged these young women in all of their hard work and perseverance: their leaders, friends, and sister scouts. Bless also their families who have nurtured and inspired them to be leaders of their community. And finally, bless them in all that they will accomplish in the future. Amen.

Presentations
Hasbrouck Heights Girl Scouts Kathy Van Jura, Service Unit Manager
Girl Scout Council of Bergen County Susan Baum
Hasbrouck Heights Mayor and Council Councilman Thomas Meli
Corpus Christi Parish Fr. Jim Whelan
Rosary Society Dorothy Bernice, President Karen McDowell
Corpus Christi School Michelle Murillo, Principal
Knights of Columbus, Monsignor Fitzpatrick Council 7041 Warren Stroedecke, Deputy Grand Knight
Meadowlands Rotary Club Robert Ferrari, President
Hasbrouck Heights Contemporary Club Audrey Ascione
Kiwanis Peter Gallo, Past President & Past Lt. Governor
American Legion, Bergen County American Legion, Hasbrouck Heights Michael Cahill, Commander American Legion Women’s Auxilliary, Bergen County American Legion Women’s Auxilliary Hasbrouck Heights Sons of the American Legion, Bergen County
Hasbrouck Heights Public Library
Friends of the Library M.Susanne Kepsel
Hasbrouck Heights Women’s Club Elizabeth Moser
Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association James MacDonall
VFW Post 4591 Ralph Daniels
VFW Auxiliary 4591 Debbie DeRosa Pauline Braitsch
Bergen County Freeholder and Mayor of Rutherford Bernadette P. McPherson
Bergen County Freeholder James Carroll

Biographies
Vanessa Generelli, Meghan McDowell, Elizabeth Stroedecke, and Emily Wallace have been members of Troop 519 for most of their lives. Scouts since Kindergarten, they have worked on service projects for the past 12 years. Beginning with Daisy crafts given to school staff for Valentine’s Day, they progressed to their Silver Award Project in 2000. “Project: Africa” involved collecting, sorting, packing, and sending a tractor-trailer container full of clothing, medical and school supplies, and toys to Chidamoyo Children’s Hospital in Zimbabwe, Africa. Troop 519 was also part of the first of three pilgrimages from Hasbrouck Heights to Savannah, Georgia, to visit the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouting in America. For this weeklong trip, the girls organized and ran fundraisers and researched historical points of interest. A special highlight of their excursion was a ceremony in Juliette’s garden. They have also been awarded religious recognitions, including “Family of God”, “I Live My Faith”, and the “Marian Medal”.

Vanessa Generelli
Vanessa Generelli’s Gold Award Project, “PBI Regional Medical Center Bookworms”, included a book drive and reading program, which benefited the patients of Beth Israel Hospital Medical Center. In addition to her involvement with Girl Scouting, Vanessa is very active in student life at her school, the Academy of the Holy Angels. She serves as President of the Model United Nations Club and the National Honor Society. In addition to these activities, she enjoys being a member of Campus Ministry, serving the school community in Liturgies and as a Eucharistic Minister. Her participation in Student Council, the Debate Team, and Angel Ambassadors, a student ambassador and tour-guide group, have all been very rewarding. Vanessa also serves her church parish, Corpus Christi, as a Mass lector. She is elated to be attending the University of Notre Dame next year where she hopes to study political science or business.

Meghan McDowell
Meghan McDowell is a 2004 graduate of Queen of Peace High School along with fellow Gold Award recipient and best friend Elizabeth Stroedecke. She is very active in her school community. Meghan and Elizabeth say the morning announcements at school and Meghan is known for saying the Word of the Day. She is a Eucharistic Minister and the President of the Queen of Peace School Choir. Meghan also is one of the Chairs for “Poetry Live”, which is a poetry café at Queen of Peace. She is also active in school and community theater productions. Meghan will be a freshman at Douglass College and is undecided as to her major. For her Gold Award Project, “Santa’s Little Helpers”, Meghan handmade Christmas stockings and filled them with toys she collected and bought. She donated them to needy children through the Hasbrouck Heights Welfare Department and Shelter Our Sisters, Hackensack.

Elizabeth Stroedecke
Elizabeth Stroedecke has been drawn to the theater since she was very young. She has performed in and worked behind the scenes for various school and community productions, including “Betrayed With A Kiss”, written and directed by Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Morosco , which was performed by her parish’s youth group. Elizabeth is also the Campus Ministry Director on the Queen of Peace High School Student Government Executive Board. These combined experiences led Elizabeth to her Gold Award Project “Passion Play” in which she wanted to bring the performance of Christ’s Passion to life first at her high school and then at her parish. Elizabeth worked with both Queen of Peace High School and Corpus Christi Parish’s LifeTeen Youth Groups as costume coordinator and lighting designer to stage the performance. Elizabeth is a 2004 honors graduate of Queen of Peace High School and will attend Rutgers University in the fall, studying pharmacy. She is a Blaustein and Provost’s Scholarship award winner at Rutgers and is a member of the National Honor Society, Model U.N., School Choir, is a Eucharistic Minister and Lector.

Emily Wallace
Emily Wallace’s Gold Award Project was called “Books For Beginners”. She collected and donated over 2,000 early reader books to inner city schools in Paterson and Newark. Emily spent many hours reading books to the children at the schools and handing out the books. For many of the children, they were the first books they had ever owned. Emily recently graduated from the Academy of the Holy Angels, where she was very active in Campus Ministry, as a Eucharistic Minister and on the Retreat Team. She is a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish National Honor Society, the International Thespian Society, and manager of the track team. She has also been dancing for 15 years and has just completed her last year as a competition dancer. She is active in the LifeTeen Youth Group at Corpus Christi Parish. Emily will be attending Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. next fall.

Thank You
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has helped us along our journey. Special thanks goes out to Fr. Jim, and Corpus Christi Parish for the use of the Chapel this afternoon, along with Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Van Jura, and our parents for putting together this presentation.

We would also like to acknowledge and thank former Gold Awardees Julie Baum, Cristina Iribarne, Kerri McDowell, Joyce Risalvato, and Teresa Sterlacci, and our sister Scouts Cathleen Carris, Mary Kathleen Wallace, and Margaret Stroedecke for being a part of our ceremony.

Thanks to Stephanie Lonsdale, Fritz Rethage and Lori Michael, and to the many friends and family that have gathered here today. Without your love and support we would never have made it this far. Last, but not least, we would like to thank all our Sister Girl Scouts. Each and every one of you has made our experiences more memorable.

For more information on Girl Scouting, or to register as a Girl Scout, go to www.girlscouts.org or call the Girl Scout Council of Bergen County at 201-967-8100.

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CERTIFICATE OF OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT

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[2003 Gold Award Ceremony]
For more information on Girl Scouting, or to register as a Girl Scout, go to www.girlscouts.org or call the Girl Scout Council of Bergen County at 201-967-8100.
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