girl scouts of the colonial coast
Alexandra, a Girl Scout Ambassador from Yorktown, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.For her project, Alexandra focused on this issue of childhood obesity and inactivity. She developed a 12-course fitness and nutrition program that she taught to children in the afterschool program at the Newport News Family YMCA. Through the lessons that she created, Alexandra taught the children about food labels, healthy snacks, healthy food substitutions and portion sizes. She also introduced the children to different types of exercises, including yoga, Zumba and interval training, as well as outdoor games to keep them active.
“Childhood obesity has been on the rise since the 1990s,” Alexandra said. “I wanted to provide younger children with a healthy start in life. I introduced them to good, healthy habits and fun options to exercise that they can share with family and friends.”
Alexandra put all of her lesson plans and activities into a program book that she donated to the Newport News Family YMCA so that they can continue to teach fitness and nutrition in the afterschool program.
The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Alexandra to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.
