Heart of the Hudson Brownie Troop 60114, comprised of eight girls ranging in age from six to nine, worked for eight months to earn the unique Waterdrop Badge, offered jointly by the Girl Scouts of America and the United States Environmental Pro-tection Agency. The girls, Aurora Gagne, Alexandra DeFoe, Melanie Grau, Kaitlyn Scialpi, Lianna Maley, Mikayla Simmons and Abigail and Josephine Gravatt, are all students in the New Paltz Central School District. The Water Drop Project inspires Girl Scouts to learn about water quality by leading them through many activities that enhance their knowledge of wetland areas and encourages them to take action in their communities to protect local rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands and ground water.
As part of their project, Troop 60114 designed, made and hung a poster called “Wetlands—an Informational Poster” in the Gardiner Town Hall for the month of May, which is National Wetlands Month. During their eight months working towards the badge they also hiked with Minnewaska State Park naturalist, Laura Conor, at Peterskill Area to learn more about wetland areas and their importance, and completed several complementary Brownie Try-It Badges related to water, plants and the environment.
This troop will continue their scouting as Junior Girl Scouts next year. For information on joining or volunteering, contact Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson at (845) 452-1810.