Cutler Bay resident Alexandra (Alex) Cebrero was one of five Senior Girl Scouts in Troop 270 who received the Gold Award on May 15 during the Girl Scout award ceremony at FIU.
Alisha Hoak, Dominique Pericles, Brielle Rabin and Arielle Wilson-Dodard were the other members of Troop 270 receiving Gold Awards while their families and troop leader Debi Hoak proudly watched.
“These five girls have worked very hard in the past year to raise money for their project,” said Alex’s mother, Denise Cebrero. “They wanted to put in a commercial playground for Silver Palm United Methodist Church in Homestead for the children, as well as for the younger Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who meet there frequently.
“This is the church where Troop 270 would meet as well. The church didn’t have much of a playground left and so the girls decided to raise money for a nice playground and build it for them as well for their Gold Award project.”
The Senior Girl Scouts not only raised over $9,000 for the playground equipment and landscaping, they also did the physical work involved to put it together along with the help of their parents and a few volunteers, making sure that it met the proper safety requirements.
Only 40 girls in all of Dade and Monroe counties received the Gold Award this year. It is the highest award for girls in Scouting who are ages 14-18 or in the ninth through 12th grade.
“This troop has been a very ambitious group of girls that has accomplished a great deal of work in the past throughout the community,” Denise Cebrero said. “They raised money and bought bullet-proof vests for all the K9 dogs serving in the Homestead Police Department for their Silver Award.
“They also put in a large Sensory Garden in Key Largo at Island Dolphin Care for the disabled children and their families to enjoy while doing dolphin therapy. The cost of this project was approximately $50,000 and they worked many months down in Key Largo every weekend putting the garden together.”
The Scouts received their Silver Award when that project was completed, then began work on the playground project. The hard-working group of girls that make up Troop 270 say they love to help their community.
“I really liked helping the church out, because they have done so much for us,” Alex Cebrero said.
