Local Girl Scout Fixes Trail at Bonnet Shores Community Center
LINDSAY MORICAS NARRAGANSETT, RI
, R.I. (June 29, 2023)—Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England is excited and proud to announce that Lindsay Moricas from Narragansett, RI has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting. Lindsay’s Gold Award project is titled Bridging the Gaps Between Community and Nature. Her Gold Award project created a safe outdoor environment for community members to use at the Bonnet Shores Community Center.
During the summer of 2021, the Audubon Society donated a large portion of land to the Bonnet Shores Community Center with the idea that it would be utilized and made into an area where people can immerse themselves in the local environment. Unfortunately, the community center did not have many resources to make this happen on their own. The trail was left inaccessible to the public due to the public’s lack of information and an excessive amount of water and unstable ground.
These issues with the trail were the driving force for Lindsay to come forward to help and complete her Gold Award project. To complete her Gold Award project, Lindsay built two footbridges that were placed on the trail. She also built a trailhead kiosk which contained information on common wildlife, plant species, trail rules, and a map.
While working on her project, Lindsay had support from her mentor and members of the community center. With this strong foundation for success, she began to assess the plans for her Gold Award project. She created blueprints, material lists, finalized plans, and pinpointed funding.
She worked closely with her mentor in the early stages of construction so she could familiarize herself and learn all the skills and techniques necessary to ensure her project was successful. After learning these skills, she was able to work quickly and efficiently to obtain the needed materials, measure and cut the lumber, use power tools, and finally construct the footbridges and kiosk. Lindsay built a 10 foot and 12-foot-long footbridge, which covered the wet areas that had become flooded during the rainy seasons. She then built a large trailhead kiosk, which allows people to enter the trail and they will be educated on what they are going to see around them.
With everything that was implemented in the trail during her project, the trail is now open to the public and allows community members to immerse themselves in the environment around them safely.
“My Gold Award project has left me with a large feeling of accomplishment as well as gratitude for the support system I had along the way. I encountered many obstacles when completing this project, some of them being mental blocks, weather issues, and time management. I overcame these obstacles thanks to being able to speak to my leader, other Girl Scouts, members of council and my mentor to ground myself and move forward more effectively.
This helped me realize that I could do any project I wanted if I stuck to it and really wanted to get it done. I also gained a sense of leadership and self-confidence in uncomfortable situations. Being the only 17-year-old girl in an Arnold Lumber surrounded by older men was intimidating at first, but once I got the hang of the environment around me, I was able to effectively communicate and get my materials. I learned that I enjoy construction and having the skills/knowledge to put things together on my own.
Being able to build something that I didn’t think I could really do was very empowering, and I enjoyed that feeling. I also learned that I enjoy working with other members of my community. Creating these new relationships and unexpected friendships with all of them was very fun and emotionally fulfilling.
Not only did my project bring these satisfactory feelings, but it also gave me a sense of purpose. Since a very young age, I had always felt connected to nature on a more personal and emotional level. I was constantly outside, playing with any wild animal I could get my hands on, inspecting bugs, hiking trails, and much more.
Having access to all these things nurtured my infatuation with the natural world around me and shaped who I wanted to become as I got older. I view my project to give other people, young or old, the chance to feel the same love for nature that I do. Whether it be hiking, biking, dog walking, or just enjoying the scenery, people now have an easily accessible outlet to be involved in their local environments.
The completion of my project not only opened the trail for the public to use but also opened a resource for people to become closer with the environment they live in.,” said Lindsay, Gold Award Girl Scout.
About the Girl Scout Gold Award
Since 1916, Girl Scouts have been making meaningful, sustainable change in their communities and around the world while earning this award. The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting, acknowledges the power behind each Gold Award Girl Scout’s dedication to not only empowering and bettering herself, but also to making the world a better place for others. These young women are courageous leaders and visionary change makers. They are our future, and it looks bright!
Lindsay will join the millions of Girl Scout alum around the world who have successfully created, developed, and executed “Take Action” projects that have positively impacted their communities and the world, earning Girl Scouts’ highest award.
According to the Girl Scout Research Institute’s (GSRI’s) report, The Power of the Girl Scout Gold Award: Excellence in Leadership and Life, Gold Award Girl Scouts receive greater lifetime benefits than their peers with regard to positive sense of self, life satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service, and civic engagement thanks to their experience in Girl Scouting, including earning their Gold Award.
When compared to non–Girl Scout alums, Gold Award Girl Scouts soar when it comes to seeing themselves as leaders, providing service to others through volunteerism, and having positive attitudes about themselves and the lives they lead.
More generally, over 90 percent of Girl Scouts not only attributed their success in life to Girl Scouts, but they also said they could not have had access to the same experiences anywhere else.
Over the course of the last century, millions of Girl Scout alums have positively impacted their communities and the world with their creative, impactful, and sustainable Take Action projects.
It’s not only Girl Scouts who understand the value of the Gold Award. Some universities and colleges offer scholarships unique to award recipients, and Gold Award Girl Scouts are entitled to enlist in the armed forces at a higher pay grade than individuals who have not earned the award.
Earning the Gold Award is just one of the amazing things girls can do as part of Girl Scouts. To join Girl Scouts or learn more about volunteering, please visit www.gssne.org/join.
We Are Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs across Southeastern New England, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends.
Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit gssne.org, follow @gssne on Instagram, follow @GirlScoutsofSNE on Twitter, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GSSNE.