Number of Participants: 1
Hours Donated: 80
Value of Time Served: $676
Event Type: Schools
Sport: Girls Outdoor Track & Field
School: Maple Hill High School
Date: May 24, 2021
Location:
Maple Hill Jr./Sr. High School
Maple Hill Road, Castleton-on-Hudson
NY
About:
One of our students completed a community service project for her girl scout project. Her name is Skyler Misiazek and part of the project is to share her work. I have included the information below.
Girl Scout Gold Award Project “Pit Stop”
Maple Hill High School
Track Area
1216 Maple Hill Road
Castleton, New York
By Skyler Misiaszek
Project Objective:
Obtain the Girl Scout Gold Award by successfully completing the research, planning, fund raising, acquisition and construction of one set of bleachers for the Maple Hill High School Track Area.
Project Rationale:
I chose this project because there are no dedicated bleachers for the track area at Maple Hill High School and my passion is the sport of running. My goal was to purchase one set of bleachers for the track area before the start of my senior year track season (Spring 2021).
My project addresses the need of safe seating for spectators to watch organized Track & Field and other school athletic events. Because of this issue, many people are not able to attend events at the track. Parents, friends, the elderly and those with disabilities have nowhere to sit and watch their grandchildren, children and loved ones participating in the Track & Field events.
Grandparents, parents, families, friends, teachers and the community as a whole will benefit from this project. I truly and passionately wanted people to be able to share in these events with their loved ones as I love running and I wanted to solve this issue for generations to come.
The purpose of this article is to document my Gold Award Project in hopes that others will be inspired to get involved and perform similar projects in their towns.
Project Execution:
Fund Raising: The research and planning for this project began in March of 2020. I have been working on raising the funds to purchase the bleachers since June 2020 by creating original artwork and selling it at the Castleton Artisans Market. I started a bottle and can drive in July 2020 and was also performing odd jobs like weeding gardens, house sitting and taking care of people’s pets to earn the money necessary for this project.
Raising money during the Covid-19 Pandemic was not easy. With the support of the community, I exceeded my original goal to purchase one set of bleachers and I am proud to say that I was able to purchase two sets of bleachers for Maple Hill High School Track. There was even some money left over to buy equipment for the Maple Hill Cross-Country team. Did I mention my love of running?
Our community has been so helpful in pitching in with the bottle and can drive. The Bottle and Cans Drive was facilitated by the East Greenbush Bottle & Can Company. I shout out an enormous thanks to them. Also I send a special thank you to The Capital Sawmill who supplied the wood for all the major works of art I produced which has been a crucial part of this project.
I extend a large thank you to the many people that sent me bottles and cans, allowed me to work at their homes and bought my art pieces.
Selling Art Work at the Castleton Artisans Market
Community Awareness: Community Awareness is a requirement and a large part of any Gold Award Project. The purpose of this article is to document the Gold Award Project in hopes that others will be inspired to perform similar projects. It was critically important to get the word out so the people in the community are aware of the project and understood how they could help. Ms. Jacqueline Hill, Principal of Maple Hill High School, the administrative staff at the school and the coaches were a huge help. I would also like to thank Mrs. Beber, Mr. Frese and Mrs. Seymour for their support via social media. In addition I received letters of support from the following coaches and administrators; Mr. Pusateri. Ms. Golden. Mr. Frese, Mrs. Seymour, Mr. Flach, Mr. Chalebois, Mr. Chevrier and Ms. Hill.
As part of the community awareness effort, this project received mention in “The Schodack Scene” by Catherine Sager which is a local blog, Our Towne Magazine and the Castletonian Magazine as well as Facebook postings by Cindy Lovegrove of The Castleton Artisans Market and twitter on the Maple Hill High School website. This article will be posted locally and regionally and also sent to other school districts and organizations. I would like thank Mr. Michael Silver, Athletic Director at Maple Hill High School for his assistance in the distribution of this article.
Purchase, Delivery and Installation: Mr. Matt LaClair, Director of Facilities at Maple Hill High School is my adviser for this Project, and he has been a huge help. Mr. LaClair was there every step of the way on this journey. Starting with taking on the role as my advisor, making the initial contact with the company where I purchased the bleachers from, coordinating delivery of
the bleachers to the school and finally being a part of the team who assembled the bleachers. I cannot be more thankful for all the help he and his team have given me. After Mr. LaClair provided the information on which vendors work with the school district it was then up to me to research vendors, receive quotes, understand bleacher types and delivery options and then choose a bleacher for purchase with the associated cost that fit my budget.
The funds were tallied up, we agreed on an option and then ordered the bleachers taking into consideration that deliveries scheduled during Covid-19 are often delayed. The bleachers were delivered in March. They were assembled and installed at the track on April 18, 2021, which met my goal of having them in place for this track season.
The Bleacher Assembly Crew
(Picture by Catherine Sager of The Schodack Scene)
A sincere thanks to my bleacher assembly team: Brian Neumann, Perry Tomlin, Matt LaClair, Jay Beber, and George Isbester as shown above with Skyler Misiaszek on the far right.
It is my sincere hope that everyone who visits the school for track and field events this year and for years to come will appreciate and enjoy the new seating.