Girl Scout Remodels Goddard School Teachers' Lounge for Gold Award

This article from Rachel Howanetz is a requirement for her Girl Scout Gold Award service project, in which she must inform the community about her recent accomplishment at The Goddard School in Blue Bell.

By Rachel Howanetz 

In August 2013, Ambassador Girl Scout Rachel Howanetz was busy at work with her team of 10-plus volunteers painting, assembling new furniture, adding additional organization and more in the teachers’ lounge at the Goddard School on Dekalb Pike in Blue Bell. 

You may wonder why such a young person took on such a large task, but that is the point of the Girl Scout Gold Award: It is the highest award and honor a girl scout can earn. The point of the 80-plus-hour project is to teach young women about what it means to be a leader and to teach them many life skills. For Rachel, she knew she wanted to revolve her project around something that had to do with children or education. This coming fall, she will be attending college for a major in Early Childhood Education (Pre-k through 4th grade). 

After searching for a potential project, Rachel came across the opportunity to find a project at the Goddard School on Dekalb Pike in Blue Bell. She saw that the teachers’ lounge was small, and therefore could use some additional organizational elements. She made floor plans and researched new furniture. After that, she went to different local businesses and asked for donations. She received many, but was unable to get some for the furniture and a few other supplies, so she used her Girl Scout account money (made from selling Girl Scout cookies) to support her purchases. 

By the time she got all of her supplies and her volunteer team trained, it was the week before her project’s work weekend. During this week, she and one of her volunteers came to start the clean-out process in the teachers’ lounge. They placed books in boxed and took out any smaller items that were not going back into the room. 

When the weekend arrived, it was time for Rachel’s team to get to work. They started by emptying the room. Then, while a part of her team was prepping the room for painting, the rest of them were reorganizing the craft closet supplies and bookshelf books. Once the room was prepped, one group painted the walls, window sills, and door frames. The other volunteers assembled the new furniture and finished the reorganizing. Once the paint was dry, all of the new furniture and supplies were moved back into the room. 

Rachel was extremely pleased with how it looked, and truly hoped the teachers would love their new updated room. She got fantastic feedback from the staff at Goddard, and was so excited when she delivered, in mid-November, new volunteer-made curtains. 

As a special surprise and final touch, she hung a painting on the wall that she painted herself. The painting is of a tree with the word “Inspire” written on it. She hopes that it will be viewed as a word of encouragement for all of the teachers. 

Rachel would like to thank all of the administration and staff at the Goddard School on Dekalb Pike, in Blue Bell for allowing her to complete her project in the teachers’ lounge at their facility. She is so happy that everyone likes it, and hopes the lounge can act as a more relaxing and productive place for the teachers. They deserve it.