Girl Scouts build new bench for Beach Middle School

When the 7th and 8th-graders return to Beach Middle School next week, they will find something new outside the front door.

Thanks to the Bronze Award efforts of Chelsea Girl Scouts from Troop  41096 – Jessica Stahl, Emma Frederiksen, Katherine Thoms, Molly Lamb and MacKenna Lamb – students will find a beautiful new bench.

“I’m really proud of the hard work and dedication these girls have shown to complete this project,” said Beach Middle School Principal Nick Angel.

Calling the project “awesome” and describing it as “a 10,” Angel looks forward to welcoming the new 6th-graders to Beach today during orientation day.

Plus, the bench carries a message: “It’s a great day at the Beach,” which Laura Stahl said can be changed out for the seasons.

The Bronze Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior can achieve, she said.

“It is also a required building block for future earned awards at higher levels in the Girl Scout program – Silver Award at the Cadette level (for grades 6, 7 and 8) and, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award (for high school students).

The required steps in earning the Bronze Award are:
1. Build your Girl Scout Junior team.
2. Explore your community.
3. Choose your Girl Scout Bronze Award project.
4. Make a plan.
5. Put your plan in motion.
6. Spread the word.

“As a troop,” she said, “We have been building our team for many years now and the result is a cohesive and wonderful group of young ladies.”

She said that the choice to craft a bench was the girl’s idea and rather than look back at their times at South Meadows Elementary, they wanted to look ahead to their years at Beach.

They agreed to focus on where they wee going rather than where they’ve been.

After physically walking through Chelsea and sharing their observations, the girls met with Angel and they decided to create the unique bench with a positive message, Stahl said.

The girls looked into bench design ideas and were afforded guidance and knowledge from the father of one of the Girl Scouts.

They attended numerous meetings to construct the bench, sand and paint it.

“You are instrumental in spreading the word about our project and in promoting the potential we all have to positively influence our community and the lives of others,” Stahl said of Chelsea Update covering this community project.

Plus, with the completion of this project, the girls are now officially Cadette Girl Scouts.

Please click here for more information about Girl Scouts and the Bronze Award.

Please enjoy the slideshow below of the process of making the bench. Chelsea Update would like to thank Laura Stahl for these photos.