13 October, 2010
Five Hopkinton Girl Scouts have achieved something that few scouts have the chance to do; they have created an earned patch entitled “Go the Distance” that has been approved and made official by the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Massachusetts (GSEM). Now, due to the hard work of Amanda Rogers, Emma Galeucia, Sara Freedman, Avery McKenna and Chloe Smith, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador level scouts worldwide will be able to earn a patch based on criteria developed right here in Hopkinton.
The five scouts were recently recognized for their efforts by the Board of Selectmen at their September 28 meeting and received official citations from both Senator Karen Spilka and Representative Carolyn Dykema.
“I like knowing that other girls can earn the patch that we created,” said Galeucia in an interview after the meeting.
Credit for the idea of a patch, tied to the sport of marathoning, goes to Girl Scout Leader Nancy Burdick and stretches back to 2007. At that time, Burdick’s Junior troop was working on the Global Awareness badge when Burdick read an article in the Independent about the sister-city relationship between Hopkinton and Marathon, Greece.
“To earn the Global Awareness badge, the scouts needed to learn about our sister city relationship and any activities to promote cooperation between the cities,” said Burdick.
And that laid the groundwork for what was to follow. Burdick approached Tim Kilduff of the Hopkinton Athletic Association for guidance and the end result was an event where the scouts could meet and learn about citizens from Marathon, Greece; a Tea Reception. The first Tea Reception was held in a greenhouse at Weston Nurseries. It is now an annual event held at the State House.
"Getting to know people from other countries is more important than ever," stated State Senator Karen Spilka. "The tea event for the badge is wonderful because it allows our Girl Scouts to make new friends with Greek runners, as well as see the example set by these amazing athletes in the area of physical fitness. It's a fun event that brings a lot of benefit to our Scouts and our community and I look forward to it every year!"
Motivated by the success of the tea reception, Burdick continued to explore the topic of marathoning with assistance from the Hopkinton Athletic Association (HAA). What started with the first tea reception blossomed into the idea for an earned patch with the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon. With the girls in her troop unable to commit the time required to pursue the idea of an earned patch, Burdick invited other troops to participate.
“I decided that if any scouts were interested in this project that I would promise to take them through the process of developing a badge or patch with the support of the GSEM,” said Burdick.
Rogers, Galeucia, Freedman, McKenna and Smith are all in the same troop and all good friends, but still found it challenging to come up with the criteria for the patch and to reach a consensus. According to Burdick, the project took longer to complete than anticipated, almost a total of five months.
“We had some help and some guidance, but we did all the work,” said Galeucia.
“The hardest part was reaching agreement on the criteria,” said Rogers.
The girls created both the criteria for the patch and a patch design that had to be approved by the GSEM.
Kilduff describes the criteria they developed as interesting, challenging, and well thought out. While inspired by the Boston Marathon, the patch is about marathoning in general and the criteria are broad enough so that scouts worldwide can earn the patch.
“Linking the patch to the marathon run is timely due to the fact that 2010 is the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon,” said Kilduff.
A synopsis of the girl’s work will go to 300 race directors worldwide and a communications package will be sent to Athens, Greece in time for the Athens Classic Marathon at the end of October.
“It will reach the world by the end of the month,” said Kilduff.
All of the girls are working on earning the patch and they hope to get other Hopkinton troops involved. Their goal is to finish by next year’s Boston Marathon.
“It’s important to use, that’s why we chose to do this,” said Rogers.
More photos at http://hcam.smugmug.com/Other/Girls-Scout-Go-the-Distance/14202435_yxjV2...
