Gold Award Girl Scouts build Museum Village historical herb garden

MONROE-Through the efforts of Amanda Buzanowski, Virginia Rinehart and Elaine Zaveckas, the Museum Village in Monroe has a historical herb garden added to their 19th Century exhibits. Sarah Wells Senior Troop 264 chose to undertake this task as their Gold Award project. As this is the highest award in Girl Scouting, it requires a combination of leadership skills and community service. It also allows a scout to make a personal commitment toward a particular goal. Due to the troop's past experiences of volunteering in Museum Village, it was discovered there was a need to develop an abandoned piece of property. The decision for the Gold Award project was easily finalized to research, design and create an historical herb garden. This would transform an empty lot of land from a burnt out building to a beautiful and functional herb garden to benefit the visitors and the children of Museum Village for enjoyment and educational purposes. Many responsibilities and much planning were involved to proceed with this task. Among them were contacting the Director, a member of the Board of Trustees and a manager for approval, and to inquire about rules and regulations that must be adhered to in the Village. The herb garden must be constructed in a historically correct manner, which reflects American life in the 19th Century. Research, demolition, coordination of volunteers, installing a fence and preparations for planting were among the list of assignments that needed to be completed. Amanda, Virginia and Elaine are proud to culminate their Girl Scout careers with the Gold Award. Since their membership in a Daisy troop, that is, since kindergarten, the lessons in leadership, character building, assisting the community and skills taught for success in life, have become prominent as they approach their college careers. Troop 264 thanked The General's Garden of Warwick for their help and advice. Also, this Gold Award project would not have been possible without the support of its leaders, Linda Rinehart, Grace Zaveckas and to Debbie Buzanowski for her help.