M-W senior earns Gold Award

CENTRAL VALLEY — While she was on the way to a tournament with her travel lacrosse team, Monroe-Woodbury High School senior Megan Midtbo was thinking about what to do for her Girl Scout Gold Award project.
Her coach, eight months pregnant at the time, was told she needed to park a very far distance from where the team would be playing.
A light bulb went off: “Parking for Your Baby Bump” was born.
The Gold Award is the highest honor a girl scout can earn. To earn this distinction, scouts must create and implement an original project that is sustainable and that benefits the community.

'Reserved Parking for Expectant Mothers'

In addition, they must work alone and raise funds to cover the cost of the project.
Megan’s hard work has paid off. Today there are 18 “Reserved Parking for Expectant Mothers” signs in various locations in the school district, Village of Monroe, Town of Monroe and in Smith Clove Park.
With help from the designers at Prestige Graphics in Middletown and money raised from a two-day garage sale, Megan’s vision became a reality.

Troop 569 in Monroe

Megan is completing her Girl Scout journey this year, a path she began as a Daisy 13 years ago.
She is a member of Troop 569 in Monroe, along with seven other original Troop members, who are under the leadership of Girl Scout leaders Kim Gannon, Jodi Fischbein and Pam Hickey.
Original troop members include Danielle Gannon, Danielle Fischbein, Marriel Hickey, Kaylee Sperling, Brianna DeGennaro, Gina Aiello, Hailey Davisberg and Midtbo. Annie Kurdziel and Dagny Lytle joined the troop more recently.

'Very humbling'

“It’s great to see the signs up,” said Megan. “I want to reach out to other communities and see if they would be interested in putting up as well. I remember thinking how unfair it was to have my coach walk so far when she was pregnant.
"The community support for my project," the young woman added, "was very humbling."