Fort council honors Girl Scouts achieving Gold Award

By Chris Spangler

The Fort Atkinson City Council on Tuesday recognized four Girl Scouts who have achieved the organization’s highest honor.

Jessica Sharp, Elee Sharp, Makayla Krueger and Nevaeh Smith will be presented the Gold Award on April 9 by Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Badgerland Council.

According to GirlScouts.org, “Seniors and ambassadors earn the Gold Award — the highest award in Girl Scouting — by developing and carrying out lasting solutions to issues in their neighborhoods and beyond. Gold Award Girl Scouts truly are the world changers, rock stars, role models and real-life heroes we all look up to. Plus, they’re amazing candidates for colleges, scholarships, competitive internship programs, and exciting careers.”

On Tuesday, city council President Chris Scherer proclaimed March 16, 17, 18 and 19 as “Gold Award Girl Scout Day” in honor of Jessica, Elee, Makayla and Nevaeh, respectively.

To attain her Gold Award, each of the girls completed a project at Memorial Park designed to have a measurable and sustainable impact on the community.

All are members of Senior Girl Scout Troop 2276.

Jessica Sharp called her project “Baseball Photo Op.”

“My Gold Award project was a beautification project at Memorial Park, a baseball park in Fort Atkinson,” she said. “I created some landscaping with flowers in colors that are significant to the park.”

Jessica said she also created a walking path through the flowerbeds that is big enough for people to take pictures in front of the Memorial Park sign she placed on the back of the seating.

“Together, these elements create a great space for teams and their players to make memories and celebrate their accomplishments,” she said.

The project by Elee Sharp was “Youth Batting Cages Revamp.”

“For my project, I worked to revamp the practice batting cages in my local kids’ baseball park,” Elee said. “I helped bring the maintenance and improvement this area has been needing by livening the area with a mural and making it more usable with new benches,” she added. 

She said the mural — painted on a side of the shed located between the batting cages — depicts a boy hitting a baseball and the name ‘Memorial Park’ layered behind it.

“The mural was designed to incorporate the colors of the two programs that use the park,” Elle said. “Then, I built and installed two benches for players to use while their teams are practicing,” she said. 

Makayla Krueger named her project “An Organized Golden Glove.”

“For my project, I cleaned and organized Fort Youth Baseball’s equipment/supply room. I held a rummage sale to sell the equipment that was no longer being used,” she said. 

The proceeds from the rummage sale went to benefit children who are underserved.

“Then, with the remaining equipment from the rummage sale, I donated it to benefit kids in Fort Atkinson’s sister city, Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua,” Makayla said. 

Nevaeh Smith completed a “Flowerbed and Flagpole Renovation.”

“I started by repainting the flagpole,” she said, adding: “The local VFW (Edwin Frohmader Post 1879 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars) donated a new flag.

“I redesigned the way the plaques were displayed. I also added baseball shaped planters to beautify the park,” Navaeh said. 

The four Fort Atkinson High School seniors have been together as Girl Scouts for around a dozen years. 

City council member Megan Hartwick said that for a number of years, members of Troop 2276 sold homemade baked goods at the United Way of Jefferson and Walworth Counties’ Chili Cookoff that follows Fort Atkinson’s Holiday Parade.

“I remember the first year I asked you guys to do that, I assumed you were going to come in with a little card table and a box or two of some baked goods you brought from home, and they came in with a cookie operation,” said Hartwick, executive director of the local United Way.

“Plates of pie, Rice Krispies (treats) … and I think four or five 10-foot tables set up. And all the grownups stood far in the background and had the girls take the lead on everything. They worked very hard on all their efforts over the years and always one of the biggest things that people commented on with our Chili Cookoff was what a great job you guys did,” she said. 

City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire also lauded the scouts.

“I’m so pleased to have you here today with us. Congratulations on these awards and I encourage you to continue your journey in community service,” she said. 

Also Tuesday, the council accepted the 2021 annual stormwater report submitted by city engineer and Director of Public Works Andy Selle. 

He noted that the city must meet state Department of Natural Resources requirements on stormwater ranging from public education and outreach to looking for elicit discharges, “which is a dubious term for basically folks pouring stuff down the storm drain that they shouldn’t.”

Fort Atkinson must report on these measures to the DNR annually.

In addition, the city is working toward its TMDL goal.

“TMDL stands for total maximum daily load and, in a very basis sense, they essentially look at the Bark and Rock rivers and say they can handle this much pollution from cities, villages, towns and agriculture, and they lopped off Fort Atkinson’s portion … and said ‘make sure you don’t exceed that.’

“We’re working very hard at continuing to not do that,” Selle said.

He explained that the city has put into place various types of management practices such as street cleaning and leaf pickup, but also structural practices like the Larsen lagoon project that was finished a couple years ago and maintaining other stormwater facilities around town.

Said Selle: “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. It’s a good time to talk about stormwater, as things are melting and rain is coming. And remember, if it falls on the pavement, no matter where your pavement is, it’s in the river.

“That’s where everything drains in the City of Fort Atkinson. It’s very important to keep that in mind, because there’s a lot of stuff going down those drains that, I guarantee you, neither of us want to be swimming in or eating a fish out of. So the more we can keep that stuff out of there, the better.”