Standing up for those who cannot
Girl Scout’s gold award project helps her school and the Invisible Children Goshen KeriLee Horan wanted to do something different for her Girl Scout gold award project. She tossed several projects around in her mind but she kept coming back to doing something that she loves to do. So last spring, Horan, 17, who is a senior at John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen, went to her drama teacher and pitched the idea of directing Burke’s variety show. How could she work it into a gold award project? With the help of her leader, Mary Altura of Troop 159 in Goshen, she was able to turn directing her school’s variety show into a project that ultimately helped her school, left an enduring legacy for those who follow her, and helped an organization that is very close to her heart. Horan lives in Sugar Loaf and went to St. Stephen’s in Warwick before entering Burke. She has been a Girl Scout since she was just six years old. She said she loves Girl Scouting since it takes you places you wouldn’t normally go. “It exposes you to a lot of things,” she said. “It puts a new perspective on things you wouldn’t normally experience.” In 2005, Horan went to a summer program at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. While she was there, she saw a documentary that also changed her life. It was called Invisible Children. “It absolutely stayed with me,” said Horan. The documentary was shot by three young adults from California who had gone to Africa on a film-making adventure. Their travels took a “divine turn” and landed them stranded in Northern Uganda. They discovered children as young as eight years old were being kidnapped by a rebel group and forced to fight in a brutal war. These are the invisible children. The filmmakers went from high school to high school, college to college, to show the country what was going on in Uganda. Horan saw the film at Notre Dame and could not forget it. When she returned to Burke, she arranged for a screening of the film. In March, the school did a fundraiser for the Invisible Children called a Penny War. The Invisible Children came up again for Horan when she was putting together the variety show. Someone suggested that the money collected at the door for the variety show and any money donated for refreshments should go to the Invisible Children. So, Horan took a gold award project meant to help her school and turned it into something that did just that, as well as help children in Uganda escape an awful fate. The criteria for the gold award project includes more than just a one-time event, so Horan is making the project, to which she has dedicated more than 90 hours so far, a lasting one. She is putting together a manual for the future directors at Burke. She will chronicle how to put a show together. In her case, she dealt with 29 kidsmany of whom were freshmen. “It was a really good experience,” she said. “There were lots of freshmen so I got to show them how to do everything.” Now, Horan is looking to see which college she will attend in the fall. She has her sights set on Notre Dame to pursue a career either in journalism or public relations. The Girl Scout gold award is the highest award in Girl Scouting. It must be an indication of a girl’s leadership skills, organizational skills, and sense of community and commitment, according to the Girl Scout Web site. Only about 5 percent of the eligible Girl Scouts actually achieve the gold award. The Web site says the gold award project should be something “you really want to be remembered for.” That sits just fine with Horan’s project she has served both her school and the world.