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Vivianna Onofrietti enjoys reading a lot. She adores the serenity, amusement, and surprise that reading a good book can offer.
After learning she had won a $10,000 award in recognition of her work providing books to children who are homeless or in domestic abuse shelters, Vivianna remarked, "I believe reading truly enhances a person's life."
Vivianna, a resident of Toms River, just finished her Girl Scout Gold Award project. Her "Better with Books" project involved building wooden book stations that would contain more than 1,250 multi-level donated books for the kids. It earned her the highest accolade in the Girl Scouts.
According to the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore council, she was one of 24 Girl Scouts who recently received their Gold Award.
Girl Scouts must work on a project for at least 80 hours over the course of one to two years in order to receive the award. This includes finding the cause of a problem, developing a solution, and managing a team of individuals to finish the project.
The Jersey Shore council stated in a news release that this year's Gold Award Girl Scouts "invested more than 2,000 hours and tackled significant issues faced by their communities by creating STEAM education opportunities for young women, creating accessibility to golf and tennis in underserved communities, and fighting domestic violence."
A national accolade for her work, the Gold Award Scholarship, was given to Vivianna for her project.
According to Heather Coburn, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, "Vivianna demonstrated extraordinary leadership, measurable and sustainable impact, and addressed an issue of national significance. Gold Award Girl Scouts are visionary leaders."
Vivianna's research was motivated by her interactions with shelters and observations of the rise in the proportion of youngsters staying there. Her initiative attempted to address the issue of children in shelters not having access to reading and educational materials.
After conducting research and conducting interviews with shelter directors, Vivianna spent six months acquiring more than 1,000 new and used books. She cleaned the used books, arranged them according to reading ability and age, created fliers, posted information about the book collection on social media, and cold-called contributors for supplies for the book station.
She then used various woodworking techniques to attach, drill, glue, paint, and customize each book station. According to the council, the shelters have committed to keeping the bookshelves stocked with donations from the local community in order to build long-lasting book stations for the youngsters staying there.
Reading is "one of my greatest passions," Vivianna said, stressing that studies have shown it to enhance memory and brain function. "I could not imagine depriving a child of the benefits of reading, which is exactly why I completed my Gold Award project on providing multi-level books for children in family shelters and domestic violence shelters."
Vivianna will have enormous prospects after receiving the Gold Award, according to Coburn. Our next generation of corporate leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers are on their way to becoming her and the other Gold Award Girl Scouts.
I support the Girl Scouts' life lessons of fostering more confidence and helping others to better the world, said Vivianna. "I am incredibly grateful to have received a gold award national scholarship for my commitment to and intense work on behalf of these kids, who deserve the same opportunities as us all," the recipient said.
