BERKELEY, NJ — A local Girl Scout is the recipient of the highest honor a scout can get: the Gold Award.
Jordan Rich was recently honored by the Berkeley Township Council for her achievement.
Her project, titled “Tribute to Police and First Responders,” came as a result of seeing the growing discomfort against people in uniforms, Mayor John Bacchione explained at a recent meeting.
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“To combat the issue of people seeing only a uniform and not the person behind it, she created her Gold Award project,” Bacchione said.
Rich researched Central Regional alumni dating back to 1958 – the early days of the district’s existence – to find who in the school’s history had served as first responders.
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She did this “so other alumni and current students could be reminded that people they know in uniforms are people just like them, that walked the same halls and had similar experiences,” Bacchione said.
Rich created a tribute and placed it within the school. It now will be watched over by a school club, who will continue to add new names to honor future first responders.
The Gold Award is the highest achievement a Girl Scout can receive, on par with the Eagle Scout rank for Boy Scouts.
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