Welcome to My Blog!

About Me

I’m Noelle Russell, I’m 17 and soon to be a senior Hilliard Darby High School. I’m a member of the 

marching band and enjoy reading and playing music. I've attended Livingston United Methodist Church my whole life and have been a member for the last four years. I’m in the bell choir, have played solos as special music, and have volunteered at the food pantry for years. I've been a member of Girl Scouts since Daisies, as a 5-year-old. With Girl Scout Troop 2269, I've participated in several community service projects, including cooking meals at the Ronald McDonald House, and planting flowers and organizing ice cream socials at Trillium Place Senior Living. As a troop, we've earned our Bronze and Silver awards for our community service work. I’m now an Ambassador Girl Scout and am enthusiastically pursuing my Gold Award as an individual.

About the Gold Award

Starting in 1916, the best and brightest undertook projects that improved their communities ­– and the world. The Golden Eaglet insignia, the highest award in Girl Scouting from 1916 to1939, marked the beginning of a long tradition of recognizing the extraordinary efforts of extraordinary girls. From 1940 to 1963, the Curved Bar Award was the highest honor in Girl Scouting. From 1963 to 1980, the highest award was called First Class. And since 1980, the Gold Award has inspired girls to find the greatness inside themselves and share their ideas and passions with their communities. The Girl Scout Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. Open only to girls in high school, this prestigious award challenges you to change the world – or at least your corner of it. The goal is to solve a community problem – not only in the short term, but for years into the future. The seven steps of the Gold Award are to identify an issue, investigate it thoroughly, get help and build your team, create a plan, present your plan and gather feedback, take action, and educate and inspire.

My Gold Award

When approaching the first step of identifying an issue, I was forced to consider where I saw a need in my community, and what’s important to me. I considered what I’m passionate about, things like music and animals, but what I really felt was important to me, and can be shared with my community is my passion for reading. Books have made a huge difference in my life, from the first book I ever read on my own, “Green Eggs and Ham,” to books I read on a daily basis today. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without the ability to read what I want, when I want. That ability and the joy that reading gives me are things I want to be able to share. The need for reading help is something I can provide for in my community.

Through volunteering at Livingston’s food pantry I’ve witnessed that need. I’ve especially seen this through parents who have little education, and therefore little to no reading ability. What saddens me about this is their children, who are learning to read without help at home. Even the parents who can help are likely to have more important things on their minds, and reading is often overlooked. My goal is to provide that help to children who need it.

I would like to start a reading help program at Livingston once a month during Saturday’s food pantry. While parents are waiting, shopping, or loading their car, their elementary school-aged children can receive help with reading. Volunteers can help children as much or as little as they need with their own books or provided books. This will provide that little extra help once a month that can hopefully make a difference in the lives of less fortunate children. 

This program will begin this summer, start date depending on when my proposal is approved by the Gold Award Committee. This blog will be my way of keeping you, the community, updated on the monthly progress of the program as it hopefully thrives!