Pooja Nagpal is among 10 girls to receive the highest honor.
By Raif Karerat
An Indian American is among the 10 young ladies receiving the highest Girl Scout honor in the nation, an achievement earned by designing a project that demonstrates extraordinary leadership, has measureable impact and sustainability, and addresses a local, national, and/or global issue.
Pooja Nagpal, of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, masterminded a project that focused ending violence against women worldwide by teaching self-defense to women and girls in rural villages in Himachal Pradesh, India as well as battered women’s shelters in Los Angeles, California, according to a press release.
In order to realize her vision, Pooja personally crafted a two-part curriculum that not only successfully strengthened girls’ and women’s physical abilities but also exercised their mental acuity through discussions and activities around leadership, community service, confidence, and education, according to a PR Newswire release.
Furthermore, in the past year Pooja founded For a Change, Defend, a non-profit organization, and spoke at numerous events in the efforts to raise awareness of domestic violence and promote women’s empowerment.
“Our 2015 National Young Women of Distinction have demonstrated remarkable leadership through their extraordinary Take Action projects,” said Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., in a statement “At such a young age, these girls are creating positive change in their communities, identifying local solutions that relate to global issues, and taking sustainable action to make a difference in the world. We are proud to recognize the contributions and achievements of these exceptional girls and cannot wait to see how they continue to inspire, influence, and innovate as the leaders and social entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”
Apart from Nagpal, the other honorees are:
- Hadiya Harrigan, Girl Scouts of Western Ohio
Hadiya created a web development handbook, available online, and contains more than 20 lessons for students and the public to learn ASP.net and MySQL.
- Julie Kapuvari, Girl Scouts of Nassau County— New York
Julie’s project channeled her passion for environmental science and her concern over the worldwide decline of honeybee populations. She enrolled in the Long Island Beekeeping Association apiculture class to become more fluent in the nature of honeybees, dispel common behavioral misconceptions, and highlight the benefits of a beekeeping program and consequently received a grant from the Long Island Beekeepers Club (LIBC) for a nucleus of 1 queen and 5,000 honeybees that provides a local, sustained pollination source that will help with food production on the farm it is situated on for years to come.
- Rebecca Pober, Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama
Rebecca produced, filmed, edited, and narrated a documentary on domestic human sex trafficking called “Project P.A.T.H.—People Against Trafficking of Humans” that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) now uses for training purposes.
- Elizabeth Martin, Girl Scouts of Peaks to Piedmont — North Carolina
Elizabeth addressed the endemic issue bullying by helping pre-school children develop a strong sense of self-worth and positive relationships with others as well as developing resources for teachers and parents. She created a “Shine Your Own Way” box that included a brochure with positive parenting tips, a series of childhood books featuring various bullying scenarios, an activity booklet for children to learn better ways to express their feelings, costumes for children to role play the activities and concepts from the books, and a video for new teachers informing them how to use the program.
- Liza Villaneuva, Girl Scouts of Orange County — California
Liza established iDREAM Express, a nonprofit organization that creates mobile learning centers around the world. iDREAM is an acronym for imagination, discovery, research, education, art, and music, all components of the program, which also includes hygiene and nutrition. Liza launched iDREAM Express in the Philippines, knowing that poverty and the lack of education are prevalent issues in the nation.
- Jamielee Buenemann, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri
Jamielee set out to make renewable energy more understandable and accessible and for the average layman. In order to do so, she designed and constructed a residential-scale wind turbine—constructed almost entirely from previously used materials from her home—in an effort to promote new sources of energy.
Annie Cai, Girl Scouts of Northern California
Annie created Imaginarium, a career development conference that teaches students about public speaking and entrepreneurship, in addition to building their confidence.
- Alexa Iannace, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania
Alexa addressed the issue of child pornography through a documentary featuring experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Pennsylvania State Police. She partnered with several members of law enforcement and the District Attorneys who investigate child pornography crimes and advocate for the victims to create her documentary.
- Sarah Schurr, Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta
Sarah focused on a three-part project—an educational booklet, a toolkit and a website—provide useful tips and techniques to help professional and familial caregivers better communicate with elders suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s, or social detachment.