Recycling is safer in Monkton thanks to Girl Scout project
Natalie Adams of North Ferrisburgh earned Gold Award for her work
November 20, 2023
MONKTON, VT – In the community of Monkton, a rural town with no real center, the “dump,” or recycling center, often serves as a place for people to meet and catch up as they deposit their trash and recyclables. Thanks to Gold Award Girl Scout Natalie Adams, doing so is now safer, with new platforms between dumpsters.
Adams, 18, of North Ferrisburgh, earned the highest honor possible for a Girl Scout in high school, the Gold Award, with her project, Recycling Center Renovation. Along with the new platforms, Adams repaired a shed used for bottles and added a community bulletin board and information about how to recycle common items.
“I've been volunteering at that recycling center for forever,” said Adams. “When it started to fall into disrepair I thought that it would be a great thing for me to do for my Gold Award project because it's both helping the people in my community while also being important to me personally.”
Adams spent 97 hours and over $1,000 to accomplish the renovation, which was badly needed. She removed the old decking, added to the structures to stabilize them, and built new handrails. She coordinated a team of people to help with the construction work over several years, which the COVID-19 pandemic made more difficult.
“COVID kind of set me back a little bit,” she said. “I think I would have probably finished my junior year had I been able to work with people and been in school full time and not had to work around COVID.’
Adams has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten, where she has had a wide variety of experiences, sold Girl Scout Cookies, traveled, and camped. She made lasting friendships too, that were only strengthened as they worked together and overcame some adversity. She recalled a trip as a Cadette in middle school where they visited the Herkimer Diamond Mine where they were to camp out for the night, and got flooded as rain poured down.
“We had to cram all of us into two cabins, because that's all they had,” she said.
“There were five people sleeping in like this one queen-sized bed. It was so disastrous, but it was so much fun!”
The Girl Scouts revisited the mine as seniors in high school, and once again rain poured down.
“There's this really great picture of all of us wearing ponchos and raincoats, holding up our hammers to go diamond mining right at the entrance while it's downpouring, and it's just like it was a really nice full circle ending to our trip,” she said.
Troop leader and mentor Kim Clark said she has received nothing but positive comments from the community on the project, which is now sturdy and safe.
“Natalie is a hard worker,” she said. “When she sets her mind to something that needs to be done, she works through it until it is complete and completed well. She demonstrates the Girl Scout law regularly in her daily life and has been a real asset to our community. It has been a pleasure to work with her the last 12 years and through this project.”
Adams’ experiences have given her a wealth of life skills. She encourages more girls to join Girl Scouts and reach for the higher awards.
“I have so much community service, and I've gained a lot of different skills that I think have been really important to my success in academic settings and outside of academic settings,” she said. “I think people should be less hesitant to join Scouts.”
Adams was a honors student in high school where she won several state championships in field hockey, and is now a freshman at Bryant University in Rhode Island, where she is studying finance. She intends to finish her bachelor’s degree in three years and follow it up with a one-year master’s program there.
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Gold Award Girl Scouts don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good. The Gold Award is earned by girls in grades 9–12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership in developing sustainable solutions to local, national, and global challenges. Since 1912, Girl Scouts have answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change. They earn college scholarships, demonstrate high educational and career outcomes, and are active in their communities.
Natalie Adams has answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change, and her Gold Award is a testament to her remarkable dedication to improving her community and the world.
About the Girl Scout Gold Award
- Gold Award Girl Scouts on average spend one to two years on their project.
- A Gold Award project must be sustainable after the girl’s involvement ends.
- The average age of Gold Award Girl Scouts is 17.
- Since 1916, more than 1 million girls have earned the Gold Award or its equivalent.
- Gold Award Girl Scouts are entitled to enlist at a higher pay grade when they join the military.
- University research indicates that noting you are a Gold Award Girl Scout on a college application is influential in the admissions decision-making process.
- Eighteen young women from New Hampshire and Vermont earned their Gold Award in the 2022-2023 membership year as part of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains.
- The Girl Scout Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable.
We Are Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont through volunteer-run troops, events, and virtual programs. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org to learn more.
