January 13, 2006

Girl Scout News

Girl Scout Senior Troop 759 and Cadette Troop 162 roll up their
collective sleeves at Groesbeck Park

In the spring of 2002, Councilmember David Cortese, with assistance from the non-profit Our City Forest, planted 49 trees with members of the community to beautify Groesbeck Park. The trees are native species to the area and are located along the walking pathways, near the children’s play area, in the southwest corner of the park.

From left to right: Bethany Nagid (Silver Award Recipient and Troop 759), Cheryl Birmingham (Mission Springs Camp Director), Taylor Chin (Troop 162), Clara Chin (Girl Scout Leader Troop 162 and 759), and Courtney Chin (Troop 759).

These 49 trees were cared for by Girl Scout Troop 759, with training from Christian Bonner, arborist with Our City Forest. “Getting the girls to water the trees two times a week was quite a task,” said Girl Scout Leader Clara Chin. “The six girls were split into two teams and watered the trees every other week. ...Because the trees were located in several locations in the park, they had to pull 50-foot water hoses from one location to another. The girls often watered the trees late in the evenings to avoid the hot summer temperatures.”

Now that the girls are sophomores at Evergreen Valley High School and Notre Dame, they have a more defined idea as to what they want to do in the community. In June of 2005, they officially adopted Groesbeck Park along with their sister troop, Cadette Troop 162.

One of their major projects was to give the playground walls a new coat of paint. Kelly Angeloty, a sophomore at Notre Dame, was the project coordinator in charge of painting the lower playground area.

“The most challenging part of painting the wall was not dripping paint on the sidewalk area,” said Kelly. “By July, the temperature started to reach 80 degrees by noon and it was hard to keep the team focused.” Kelly was happy when a neighbor across the street took time to come by and tell the Girl Scouts that the new coat of paint looked wonderful. Kelly preferred being a painting project coordinator to watering the trees over a three-year period.

Courtney Chin, sophomore at Evergreen Valley High, was the painting project coordinator for the upper playground area. The most challenging part of the project, according to Courtney, was painting the staircase and railings.

The girls had the City Park Supervisor trim the tree branches so the park was more visible from the street area.

To reduce the weed growth along Klein Road, Bethany Nagid, a sophomore at Notre Dame, has been leading the group that has spread recycled wood chips along the hillside.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, breaking up the recycled wood chip piles and spreading them on the hill,” she said.

Bethany was very pleased when a nearby resident came by one day and offered to help them finish up the job.

Volunteers in action at Groesbeck Park include (from L to R) Manuel Rojas, Bernie Castellino, and Dylan Castellino.

So far, the girls have completed 249 hours of service and plan to start a new project in 2006 to improve the safety of the playground areas.

Volunteers are also making a difference in Groesbeck Park. The current project involves the installation of California native plants designed by Middlebrook Gardens. The planting area is at the corner of Klein Road and Cedardale Drive. It is a garden that is full of surprises like dry creek beds, winding gravel paths, berms, boulders and a wonderful selection of California native plants.

Thanks to the generous donations from U-Save Rockery, Payless Hardware & Rockery and Payless Nursery, and individual contributors, as well as the many weeks of volunteer labor, the gravel path and dry creek bed have been completed. Native Revival Nursery’s generous donation has enabled the installation of the California native plants currently in place. Many more plants are required to complete this project.

Workdays are held the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month (9:30 a.m. – noon), weather permitting. Volunteers and contributions are welcomed. Email groesbeck_neighbors@yahoo.com for more information.

Any resident or group interested in the Adopt-A-Park Program can contact the City of San Jose, Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, 200 East Santa Clara Street, San Jose, CA 93113 (408)-793-4109.

Cadette Girl Scout Bethany Nagid honored with silver award

A small community in the mountains was the perfect location for the silver award of cadette Girl Scout Bethany Nagid.
The ten-year Girl Scout planned, created, and administrated activities, which were participated in by physically and mentally disabled persons and their families.

“My interest in the disabled actually began with my interest in horses. I began to volunteer at the B.O.K Ranch, which is a therapeutic horseback riding stable for disabled people. It felt really good to be helping these people who would be in an otherwise disadvantaged life,” said Bethany as she explains why she chose her project. “The kind of people that I work with at the B.O.K are so full of life, and are always happy to see you and talk to you.”

As part of her project, Bethany helped create several “favors” from a family retreat facilitated by a group known as Joni and Friends. These favors included bookmarks and do-it-yourself door hangers and mobiles. Bethany didn’t have a hard time finding materials for her task, and had a great time at the retreat.

So what was the hardest part of the experience?

“The hardest part of it all, was finding the place,” she said. “After a few wrong turns with very vague directions, we finally made it though, and I’m glad we did.”