Girl Scout creates new sign, benches for Kendall Community Park

Elizabeth Pearson earns Gold Award

Photos by Peggy Barringer – Elizabeth Pearson is pictured with the new sign she made for the Kendall Community Park located across from the Kendall Elementary School.

KENDALL – The Kendall community opened a new park a few years ago with a gazebo as the centerpiece of the site. That park never had a sign and the gazebo was lacking enough places to sit down.

A local Girl Scout has met those needs for the site, building two benches and a sign for the park along Kendall Road across from the elementary school.

Elizabeth Pearson, 19, completed the projects for her Gold Award, the top honor that can be attained by a Girl Scout. She is one of only 5 percent of Scouts to earn the Gold Award.

Elizabeth worked closely with a mentor, Elizabeth Pensgen of Pittsford, to assemble the benches and sign, sanding them and then either staining or painting them.

Elizabeth was joined at a celebration Saturday for completion of the project by Ed Gaesser, a past president of the Kendall Board of Education, and Nadine Hanlon, current BOE president. The board in January supported the project.

Elizabeth Pearson also made these benches for the gazebo on Kendall Road. Each gazebo also has an etching of an eagle, the school mascot.

Elizabeth then worked to line up donations for the materials and complete the projects. She thanked Lowe’s for donating the wood and Lakeshore Luxuries in Hamlin for donating the decking screws.

She did the bulk of the work over the summer and last month. She graduated from Kendall last June and is a freshman at Monroe Community College, majoring in liberal arts.

She juggled her school work with the projects, which required a minimum of 80 hours of work to be eligible for the Gold Award.

Elizabeth lives just across the county line in Hamlin. She has been active in Troop 82089 for 10 years. She is grateful for the Scouting experiences.

“You get to be with your friends and do things you wouldn’t normally be able to do including horseback riding, whitewater rafting, camping and Christmas caroling,” she said.

She said the Gold Award projects were fun – and a lot of work.

“A lot of girls will back off from a Gold Award because it is so much work,” she said. “I wanted to be one of the few to get the Gold Award.”