When Girl Scouts rise to a new scouting level, they participate in what’s called a bridging ceremony. This past spring, 11 fifth graders from Washington school had an actual bridge play a big role in their ceremony. During the ceremony on the Clemente Bridge, the girls earned the bronze award, the highest elementary award and third highest award in Girl Scouts, and advanced to the cadet level.
To earn this award, the girls spent a year planning a project and working on other requirements.
Bonnie Dougherty, Hazel Drive, helped her troop through the process. “The girls plan a project. I can lead them and guide them but it has to be their passion, something they want to do. They were very excited to do it,” Dougherty says.
For their project, the girls set up a card-making booth at the Relay for Life of Mt. Lebanon, the Earth Day program and other events. They encouraged others to make cards for their loved ones affected by cancer. The girls also made get well cards that they will soon deliver to cancer patients in various hospitals.
Dougherty did some careful planning to secure the Clemente bridge for the ceremony. “Because they closed the bridge for the Pirates game, I happen to know that if we got down there early enough, the bridge would be open and there wouldn’t be too many crowds,” Dougherty says.
Congratulations to: Somdatta Basu, Josie Dougherty, Sarah Raspanti, Hailey Latona, Rina Hatakayama, Alexa Young, Shannon Sullivan, Bianca Sandora, Megan Reiley, Layla Obeid and Lizzie Roman