Superheroes save planets, soar through the sky, fight evil, and still manage to lead pseudo-normal lives. With a lot of the public’s attention now focusing on heroes of the big screen, it’s time to remember the role models that exist in our own community. That’s where the Girl Scouts of Troop 50778 shine.
This year, the troop has had not one, but two girls receive their Gold Award, the highest award available to an older Girl Scout. There are requirements for the Gold Award that can take several months to accomplish. The Girl Scout must spend a minimum of 50 hours planning, implementing, and evaluating her project, which should combine her talents and interests for the benefit of her community.
“We have an exciting new gal getting her Gold Award [Aug. 14],” said Cynthia Elias, leader of Troop 50778. This “exciting new gal” is Cathy Cardinal, a student at Righetti High School and a soon-to-be Gold Award recipient.
“Cathy did a documentary for her video class on the Righetti band. She called it The Marching, the Music, the Mayhem. She showed the video to the Gold Award committee. She wanted to write letters to politicians and talk to school boards about the importance of the band. Everything got approved, and the council recognized that she could do this,” Elias said.
“Music is very important to me. I’ve played piano for quite a few years. I started playing clarinet when I was in fourth grade, and I was in choir for a year,” Cardinal said.
She stressed the importance of the band as a community, as well. Family comes in all sizes and sounds when it comes to the Righetti Band.
On June 11, at the regular meeting of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees, Cardinal gave her DVD presentation on the Righetti High School band to emphasize the need to fund visual and performing arts. While at the meeting, she passed out brochures and explained the importance of music to her fellow students and how the band had influenced and enhanced her school experience.
“I wanted to put my message out there, saying this is a big issue to me,” she said.
Schools in California tensed up after being informed in January of the proposed state budget cuts. The governor’s budget would create a shortfall of approximately $2 million in the district’s 2008-2009 budget, according to minutes from the March meeting of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees.
The Righetti High School Band class can breathe easily, however. It won’t be cut from the budget. Cardinal is adamant about the fact that she wasn’t fully responsible for the band’s preservation.
“I wanted to raise awareness to what the band does for the future of music,” she said.
Raising awareness and funds is exactly what she did.
“I walked away from this experience with a great feeling that I had done so much for something I’m very passionate about,” she said. “It was a big task. I did more than I thought I could.”
Just a little more than a month earlier, Troop 50778 got the celebration started with a Gold Award ceremony for Kathleen LeGault. LeGault’s project was called “Supplemental Art in the Classroom.” She worked with special needs children in Ms. Leslie Jarvick’s fourth and fifth grade class at Sanchez Elementary School in Santa Maria to create a program that supplemented art into the science curriculum.
“One of the first things they did was outline their bodies on huge paper and draw in the internal parts. Ms. Jarvick and the kids were so sweet. I think I started crying when the kids said how much they appreciated it,” Elias said.
There’s no denying it: These Girl Scouts have provided examples of how to integrate superhero-like accomplishments into everyday life.
Intern Kathryn Leedom compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send items for consideration to mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 14-21, 2008.