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Girl Scouts give us a reason to keep running

| 18 Apr 2018 | 06:35
    With help from Leader Nicole Petrakis, the Girl Scouts of Troop 551 in Goshen nail their plaques with words of encouragement on a mile marker post on the Heritage Trail. From left, the girls are Aubrey Rampulla, Nera Weinstein, Rhiannon Petrakis and Lucy Attreed. One of their plaques is shown on the front of the post. (Photo by Geri Corey)
    With help from Leader Nicole Petrakis, the Girl Scouts of Troop 551 in Goshen nail their plaques with words of encouragement on a mile marker post on the Heritage Trail. From left, the girls are Aubrey Rampulla, Nera Weinstein, Rhiannon Petrakis and Lucy Attreed. One of their plaques is shown on the front of the post. (Photo by Geri Corey)
    Girl Scouts in Troop 551 show one of their inspirational signs after posting them on the Heritage Trail With them are their leaders, Nicole Petrakis on the left and Rosemarie Rampulla on the far right. The Scouts are (from left): Lucy Attreed, Nera Weinstein, Aubrey Rampulla and Rhiannon Petrakis. The group began their walk on the trail at Trailside Treats Creamery, and afterward they each enjoyed a well-earned ice cream treat. (Photo by Geri Corey)
    Girl Scouts in Troop 551 show one of their inspirational signs after posting them on the Heritage Trail With them are their leaders, Nicole Petrakis on the left and Rosemarie Rampulla on the far right. The Scouts are (from left): Lucy Attreed, Nera Weinstein, Aubrey Rampulla and Rhiannon Petrakis. The group began their walk on the trail at Trailside Treats Creamery, and afterward they each enjoyed a well-earned ice cream treat. (Photo by Geri Corey)

By Geri Corey
GOSHEN — Exercising, especially going it alone, can be tiring, both physically and mentally. At times, the body and mind just want to quit.
But now there’s help to boost one’s resolve to keep walking, jogging or running on the Heritage Trail. The trail, spanning the town and village of Goshen, goes from Middletown to Monroe.
Thanks to the Girl Scouts in Troop 551 in Goshen, the words of encouragement that they’ve posted along the Goshen portion of the Trail might be just the thing to help joggers continue their exercise routine, leading them to good health.
Along the route, runners will find posted on mile markers, among other sayings —
FIND YOUR FIRE
CHOOSE TO SHINE
EVERY MOMENT MATTERS
As the sayings bring inspiration to trail-users, their spirits will lift, their steps will get livelier, and walking, jogging, or running will get easier. Looking out for the next inspirational posting will make exercising more enjoyable.
To make these catchy plaques, Girl Scouts Aubrey Rampulla and Rhiannon Petrakis, both 11, and Nera Weinstein and Lucy Attreed, both 10, started by cutting out the scouting trefoil symbol from balsam wood. Working with Stephen Hill, a tech teacher in the Goshen Middle School, the scouts used a jigsaw and then a disc sander to produce paint ready products.
Naturally they painted the trefoils Girl Scout green, then stenciled them with inspirational quotes and lacquered them for weather durability. The girls then trekked the trail with their leaders, Nicole Petrakis and Rosemarie Rampulla, to nail the trefoils to the mile markers posted along side the path.
“I liked creating the signs. I liked working with the wood,” said Nera.
Aubrey, too, liked the hands-on woodworking part of the project: the cutting, sanding and painting.
“I liked making and painting them,” she said.
All of the girls earned the Woodworking Badge through completing this project.
Help from GoogleWhere did the inspirational quotes come from?
“We thought of some, and then searched for more on Google,” said Rhiannon, adding that her favorite is: FIND YOUR FIRE.
“I like that we’re helping the community by persuading them to keep trying,” said Lucy. Her favorite? TRY YOUR BEST.
The girls, who are all in the fifth-grade, have been together since kindergarten and enjoy the fun projects that scouting offers, helping people in the community, and doing things that they might not be able to do on their own time.
“Scouting has given us the opportunity to see the girls grow and now we’ll get to see them become young women,” said Rampulla, adding that scouting is teaching the girls that they can make a difference.
“Scouting is breaking the stereotype of what is a girl’s role. They’re learning that girls can be and do anything,” said Petrakis.
This project earns the girls the Bronze Award, the first award that culminates in earning the Gold Award, the equivalent of the Boy Scouts Eagle Scout Award.