Nichole has been a Girl Scout for thirteen years. For her Gold Award project, called “Keep Smiling,” she worked with the Operation Smile Organization and made "Smile Dolls."
Operation Smile is a not-for-profit organization that provides reconstructive facial surgery to indigent children and young adults in over twenty developing countries and the United States. “Smile Dolls” are used by the medical staff to alleviate the fears children may have before a medical procedure. In completing her project, she visited younger Girl Scout troops and introduced them to the Operation Smile Organization. She taught the girls about pattern making and sewing. In the end she was able to make over 50 dolls which were donated and shipped overseas. Nichole used her organizational and leadership skills she learned in Girl Scouting to execute this project which required over sixty hours of community service. “I’ve always enjoyed service projects simply because of all the smiles I get as a response to my work. I feel that at the end of a long day all you need is a smile to know that your day was worthwhile.”
This fall, Nichole will be a freshman at the Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. There she will major in Spanish and Secondary Education with a minor in German. Girl Scouting has been one of the many groups that has helped to shape Kristina into the person she is today. In this young woman, the Girl Scout motto is truly evident - “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.”
For more information on the Corrine Jeannine Schillings Scholarship visit the website at www.cjsfoundation.org.