Kaitlyn Vroman and Natalie Meltzer of Freehold Township recently earned the Girl Scouts’ highest national honor, the Gold Award. The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, recognizing girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through remarkable Take Action projects that have sustainable impact in their communities and beyond, according to a press release.
Katie and Natalie were formerly members of Freehold Troop 1763 of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, earning their Bronze and Silver awards within that troop. Once the troop disbanded, they completed their Gold Award requirements independently as “iGirls,” according to the press release.
Katie’s project addressed childhood obesity prevention. She completed an eight-week program for children at a child care that integrates typically developing children and children with disabilities.
Kaitlyn raised funds for the project, led a team of volunteers, and secured the donations of supplies. The entire project took 108 hours. Weekly lessons taught the children about healthy eating and fitness and included guests who were experts in exercise, nutrition and yoga.
The children created recipe books at the end of the summer. The summer ended with a carnival. Katie planned several of the stations at the school’s carnival, which included a vegetable tasting station, baseball, and fruit smoothies made by Wegmans’ staff. Former New York Mets pitcher Bobby Ojeda came to play baseball with the children, according to the press release.
After completing her project, Katie was one of 16 Girl Scouts from across the state who were invited to meet with Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of national Girl Scouts of the USA, at the Statewide Membership Forum.
Natalie’s project was called “Mission Nutrition.” Natalie went to different middle schools, religious groups and her high school to teach lessons about nutrition and healthy eating, teaching the students how to make a nutritious meal. All of the food from the meetings was donated to St. Peter’s soup kitchen in Freehold Borough.
Natalie was awarded the Monmouth County Caring award at Freehold High School for her work with this project. In the fall, Natalie plans to study culinary nutrition at Johnson and Wales, according to the press release.
Katie, Natalie and other Gold Award recipients will participate in the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore 100th anniversary Gold Award dinner in June.
