Veronica Sciulli, a senior at North Hills High School, recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. Her accomplishment will be celebrated this spring at a ceremony for new Gold Award Girl Scouts in the GSWPA Council. She will join her older sister, Hannah, who also earned her Gold Award and was on her advisory group.
By earning her Gold Award, Sciulli positions herself as a community leader by advocating for others and utilizing leadership and citizenship skills that set her apart.
Her 85-hour project focused on invasive turtle species in local parks. Sciulli worked with Meghan Scanlon, an interpretive naturalist at North Park. Sciulli built turtle traps and placed them in the pond at the Latodami Nature Center — invasive or non-native turtle species take over local environments of native turtles and make it difficult for the native turtles to flourish. Sciulli also presented to other Girl Scout troops about the dangers of releasing pet turtles into local ponds and rivers as invasive turtle species are a threat to the native turtle’s environment. She researched the native and non-native turtle species and learned how to identify the different species. Red-eared sliders are the most common invasive turtle species in our area.
Sciulli is also a recipient of the St. Lucy’s medallion, president of the Environmental Club, member of the North Hills tennis and lacrosse teams, a senior class officer, member of the North Hills Ping Pong Club, National Honor Society member, French Honor Society member and one of the Outstanding Young Citizens. She has recently decided to attended Penn State University to study environmental engineering.
