Elyana Torsone, the manager of Girl Scouts of Cranford Service Unit 48, far right, presents the Distinguished Girl Scout Service Award to, from left, Amanda Newport, Erin Miklencic, Genevieve Marchesi, Julia Love, Lasairfhiona ‘Fiona’ Iosso and Rachael Durant.
CRANFORD, NJ — Six Girl Scouts of Cranford have been honored with the Distinguished Girl Scout Service Award for their dedication to the organization. The 2021 Distinguished Girl Scout Service Award recipients are Rachael Durant, Lasairfhiona “Fiona” Iosso, Julia Love, Genevieve Marchesi, Erin Miklencic and Amanda Newport. Each received a $300 scholarship from Girl Scouts of Cranford Service Unit 48, in recognition of their achievement.
The young women were honored for their achievements at an awards ceremony in June at the Cranford United Methodist Church.
The Distinguished Girl Scout Service Award honors Ambassador Girl Scouts who were Girl Scouts for all four years of their high school careers, completed 50 hours of service for the organization during that time and graduated with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. The scholarship program was created several years ago to encourage leadership through service, while also creating a stronger Girl Scout community.
“By adding their time and talents to our organization, these young women have made our group stronger. Their efforts included assisting adult leaders, mentoring younger Girl Scouts, supporting town-wide programming and even working on behalf of the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey council. We are so proud that they chose to give back and lead by example,” said Elayna Torsone, the manager of Cranford Service Unit 48. “We can’t wait to see where the future takes them.”
Durant will attend Holy Cross College, where she will major in psychology; Iosso will attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she will major in advertising and marketing communications; Love will attend the University of Pittsburgh, where she will major in special education and developmental psychology; Marchesi will attend the University of Delaware, where she will major in finance; Miklencic will attend Rowan University, where she will major in mechanical engineering; and Newport will attend the University of New Hampshire, where she will major in zoology.
The Girl Scouts of Cranford boasts more than 1,139 Girl Scout members in 71 Troops and Juliettes, making it one of the largest nonprofit organizations in town. The Cranford Service Unit is a part of the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey Council, which is part of the Girl Scouts of the USA. To learn more, visit www.cranfordgirlscouts.com.