North Hills High School senior Melanie Zeitler earns Girl Scout Gold Award.
INPERSON
Making a
Difference
North Hills High School senior Melanie Zeitler earns Girl Scout Gold Award.
BY NICOLE TAFE
“ I encourage Girl Scouts of all ages to start something in their community— no matter how big or small the idea. If you have a cause that means something to you, use it to help to make the world a better place.”
For years, Girl Scouts around the world have been making their communities a better place through various projects that make a lasting difference. West View’ s Melanie Zeitler recently earned the highest achievement in Girl Scouting— the Gold Award— for her project that brought the joy of music to preschoolers.
Melanie, 17, is the daughter of Andrea and Gilbert Zeitler and is currently a senior at North Hills High School. She is involved in many extracurricular activities including Future Teachers of America( vice president), SADD, Marching Band( squad leader), Symphonic Choir( robe coordinator), Wind Symphony, and German National Honors Society. In addition to these activities, she is also a member of the North Pittsburgh Symphonic Band.
Melanie has been a Girl Scout for 12 years and is a Girl Scout Ambassador.“ I’ ve really enjoyed the opportunity to travel to places like Washington, D. C., and Niagara Falls with my troop,” she says. She has been an independent scout since her troop disbanded in 2012, and has worked with various family members including her aunt, uncle, grandmother and sister to continue to earn badges.
For her Gold Award project, Melanie combined her love of music and education by bringing the music department and childhood development classes together to introduce preschool students to music. She took groups of preschoolers to the band and chorus rooms and taught classes that involved singing and playing instruments. To execute this, Melanie had to plan, create and teach lessons.“ I found my inspiration for the project by being a student involved with music and also being a part of a few child development classes,” she explains.“ I want to be an elementary school teacher, so working with young kids and music are a passion of mine.”
Melanie began the project in January 2015 and it took a yearand-a-half to complete. Her aunt, Karen Zeitler, was her mentor throughout the project, and her Girl Scout advisor, Kris Svidro, also assisted.
Melanie will study early childhood education and special education at La Roche College in the fall. Her dream job is to teach grades Pre-K through sixth.
“ We are very proud of Melanie,” says her mom, Andrea.“ It’ s not easy to be involved with Girl Scouts without the help of a troop, and Melanie has shown that even without a troop, she can accomplish anything that she sets her mind to.”
After the project, Melanie has a lot of people to thank, including her parents, teachers Shaun Cloonan, Len Lavelle, Chris Ballentine, Chris Rodack and Bonnie Ziff, as well as her aunt and uncle, Karen and Greg Zeitler.“ I encourage Girl Scouts of all ages to start something in their community— no matter how big or small the idea,” she says.“ If you have a cause that means something to you, use it to help to make the world a better place.” n
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