Awards & Recognitions

Daisies 61513-1

Brownies 61175

Brownies 60905

Brownies 60911

Juniors 61515

Juniors 61686

Juniors 61874

Juniors 61513-5

Cadettes 60101

Cadettes 60425

Cadettes 61511

Cadettes 61513-6

Seniors 61513-8/9/10

Multi-Level 60736

C/S/A Robotics 62768

Brownie Summit Pin

Evelyn P. (60911)

Hadley C. (61874)

Lola M. (60911)

Lumen R. (60911/61874)

Margaret M. (61874)

Natalie G. (60911)

Phoebe H. (60911)

Junior Summit Pin

Ava G. (61874)

Ellie G. (61874)

Hera H. (61874)

Ilana K. (61874)

Maisie F. (61874)

Mary M. (61874)

Troop 61511

Troop 61513

Andrea C., Julia M, and Lucia W.

Cici C.

Isabella R. and Logan G.

Natalie C.

Jazlyn D.

Anna Botelho (61175)

As a new parent to troop 61175, Anna dove right in by leading and supporting meetings, accompanying the troop to camporee and leading us in song. Thanks for your time and your spirit Anna!

Cherish Larsen (61515)

Cherish is always willing to lend a helping hand, but she really stepped up this year to get the troop ready for Camporee. She put together great pre-Camporee meetings and completed all the necessary trainings so she could attend with the troop and provide flexibility for the troop moving forward. We value and appreciate all she does for the troop.

Irene Lau (61182/60425)

Irene has spent many years as cookie chair for 2 troops. She is always one of the first to volunteer when we need any help with the cookie cupboard, even doing zoom calls while moving cookie cases for Kim. Thank you Irene!

Judy Espino (60138)

We want to recognize Judy for being an essential part of the 60138 team moms. She has consistently shown up, whether to help with a meeting, support the girls, ensure we could attend Camporee, and more. Thank you Judy!

Kevin Boer (60101)

Kevin really stepped up for troop 60101 in many ways.  This year he took on a new role as treasurer when the previous one stepped down. He has also been integral to the success of one of our Silver Award teams, facilitating weekly meetings, checking progress, connecting the scouts with resources and really trying to empower their vision to bring Self Defense knowledge to young women. Thank you Kevin!

Liz Riley (60911)

Although she was new to our troop this year, Liz has really jumped right in as a leader. She and her scout single-handedly organized our troop’s table at the Stevenson Holiday Fair, from having the idea to hosting crafting sessions and teaching the scouts about pricing and economics, to setting up and chaperoning the event. Liz also organized attendance for sporting field trips and she put together a super creative Pets Badge meeting where each scout took home a pet garden snail. Thank you Liz!

Matt Rhoads (61686)

With two cookie seasons under his belt, Matt has proven to be a truly outstanding cookie manager. His troop can count on him to be on top of deadlines, communicate with and support families, organize cookie booths, and all the many other responsibilities the rest of the adults are blissfully ignorant of because Matt's got it covered. Thank you, Matt, for being such a rock star cookie manager!

Pete Rancatore (61175)

We would love to recognize Pete for his willingness to step forward as a volunteer. Whether he is leading a meeting, chaperoning a cookie booth or portraying the villainous troll in our troop's many shows, he has been invaluable! Thank you Pete!

Travis Service (61175)

Travis constantly and quietly shows up for the troop without complaint including stepping in to volunteer at Camporee on short notice. We are so thankful for him.

Troop Leaders are the backbone of the troop. One of the most distinguishing aspects of Girl Scouts as a program is the amount of flexibility given to Troop Leaders to set the tone and composition for their troop. In Mountain View, we have troops of all shapes and sizes, from small single-level troops meeting monthly or biweekly, to large multilevel troops, to even an older girl troop at NASA Ames that focuses specifically on robotics. While the point of Girl Scouts is to be girl-led, young girls often need unique support in learning how to lead. Troop Leaders must be teachers, coaches, sometimes pseudo-therapists for the girls, as well as managers of their troop adult team. It can be a full-time job, and they do it all without getting paid. Let’s give a round of applause to all of our troop leaders!

Alane Kataria (60905)

Alane was nominated by her co-leader, Anna, who says: “Last year, Alane mentioned to me that despite not having a lot of personal camping experience, she was committed to working toward the Girl Scout vision of getting our Brownie scouts camping outdoors. She took the trainings and this year, led our troop on its first overnight trip to Rainbow's End and on two successful nights at Camporee. This was no small task, as many of the scouts in our troop have never been away from their parents. At Rainbow's End, she led the scouts in preparing multi-course meals. And even though it was tough to get the scouts organized and many of them whined and complained, several scouts later commented on how amazed and proud they were of what they were able to accomplish. Sometimes it can be really hard to be a leader, but I can see the growth in our scouts and it makes me proud of them and of my co-leader Alane.

Belinda Langner (60838)

This is an unusual nomination, because Belinda’s troop is brand new and has only met a few times. But at the Service Unit level, we had to recognize Belinda because of her attitude towards forming her troop and supporting Girl Scouting. Belinda came to an info session last fall and enrolled her daughter in our Rec Center program beginning in January. She quickly got herself registered and fingerprinted, took the trainings, and ended up co-leading the Rec Center Daisy scouts at Camporee. To be clear: she voluntarily agreed to take charge of a dozen high-energy 5- and 6-year-old children, with varying allergies and medical needs, who had never been to camp before, at a camp SHE’d never been to before, in pouring rain, in her third month in Girl Scouts. Just incredible! She has been consistently present, helpful, and enthusiastic about helping families get established with scouting, and she’s already getting involved in mentoring potential new leaders. Belinda, we are so grateful to have you in our Service Unit and we are excited to watch the amazing things that we know you will do!

Brittany Boswell (60822)

This nomination is from Kimberly Cheng, who tells us that Brittany has taken on the difficult task of starting a new multi-level Co-Op troop for Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary School. She has spearheaded rallying the parents together and creating a group of scouts from Daisy to Junior. She even helped to get her brand new troop to Camporee. This has been a great opportunity for both the girls and our school, as it has helped to foster school spirit. Thank you Brittany!

Robyn Service (61175)

Robyn has been the co-leader of 61175 since the troop was founded mid-pandemic. She’s planned badges, hosted meetings at her house, and she’s always handy with a change of clothes when a scout ends up covered in some unforeseen mess. As my co-leader, I’m grateful for her ability to put together a meeting plan when I’ve run out of energy for the week, help me lead adventures, and provide me with a sanity check when I get too ambitious for my own good. Thanks for everything, Robyn!

Shelly Hausman (60854)

She coordinated and hosted meetings. She also provided rides for scouts. Thank you Shelly!

Officially, the Green Angel award recognizes volunteers who brought the Girl Scout program to her/his troop or service unit in the most creative or innovative way. In our Service Unit, we also bestow the Green Angel for volunteers that help their troop or SU in any exceptional ways. The contributions may be at the service unit level, or they may be at the event or troop level, but set an example for the entire service unit.

Cassandra Alcazar (61686)

This nomination comes from Katie Puglisi-Chan, who says: For the past three years, Cassandra has been co-leader for Troop 61686's monthly meetings. In August 2021, our troop had just bridged to Brownies over the summer and her scout joined as our only new member in 2nd grade. Despite being new to Girl Scouts and new to our troop, Cassandra signed up for the job of co-meeting leader. Her willingness to commit to such an important role out of the gate models the volunteer spirit that makes Girl Scouts possible. As our 4th grade scouts close out their first year as Juniors, I'm so thankful to Cassandra for her dependability (meeting after meeting), good energy (especially when classroom management gets me overstimulated), and steadfast support in all the ways. Thank you, Cassandra, for being my partner in fun, and for your "I got you" mindset. I appreciate you!

Cherise Field (MV Rec)

This nomination comes from Belinda Langner. Cherise stepped in, serving as a troop leader for the Winter session of the MVRec Program (with Sarah).  Her dedication to ensuring the girls had a great first experience with Girl Scouts led to many girls continuing with scouting, including many of the girls in my current K troop. She led the girls through 5 petals, in addition to ensuring the scouts had a memorable Camporee. She has also been great in providing advice to my troop when we did a joint meeting with her new troop. Her efforts to ensure scouts have had a great experience, along with her attention to detail, have truly created a positive experience for all.

Joanna Weinstein (61515)

Simply put, Joanna is a cookie rockstar.  She helps lead cookie-related badges, organizes phenomenal cookie booths, keeps amazing records, supports families, plans fun events with cookie proceeds, and overall runs a tight cookie ship.  We are grateful she is our cookie chair!

Kim Zarmer (SU)

Kim has been a Green Angel in this SU for years and years, always willing to jump in where she is needed and do the less glamorous and less thankful tasks associated with running an SU. Kim is both our cookie cupboard manager and our SU treasurer and just for those she deserves this award. This year in her always willing way, Kim jumped in and volunteered to be our Camporee First Aider at the last minute when our Camp level first aider became ill and couldn't attend. She did this in spite of the fact that being a first aider is literally her job the rest of the year, and in spite of the fact that she vowed never to come to camp as solely the first aider ever again (because it's "too easy"). Kim brought along her can do spirit and her handy dandy ice packs and took care of all the bumps and scrapes that go along with being outdoors with kids. Without her willingness to jump in at the last minute, we might have had to cancel Camporee this year.

Pam Reid (SU)

Service projects are embedded in the fiber of every Girl Scout, and Pam makes it possible for every scout to participate in accessible, fun ways for every scout from Daisy onward, to make our community a little better. Through working with the Senior center, environmental organizations, Light the Night and more, Pam helps every scout to realize they can make a difference in their community. 

Teresa Peters (60911)

This nomination is from Sarah Holevoet. Throughout the existence of our troop, Teresa has been a constant, calm, reliable presence. Despite being extremely busy, she often notices and takes care of critical details, like making sure that someone is bringing snack. Teresa is so reliable that she has chaperoned meetings that her own scout was unable to attend. She’s offered her home as a last-minute meeting location. She once helped her scout make a pinata from scratch because her scout had a vision for a Brownie vest pinata (and you can’t find one of those at Diddams). Even without getting into the meetings she has led, including an awesome indoor rock climbing trip, Teresa embodies the “angel” in “Green Angel.” Thank you Teresa!

Theresa Mecklenborg (61511)

This nomination is from Christine Case-Lo, who tells us that Theresa came in as a new cookie manager and immediately had a big problem fall in her lap. She handled it smoothly, dealt with a system with many challenging technical pitfalls, and made everyone feel great about their cookie experience. She is always ready to pitch in and help when needed, even at the last minute when all hope is lost, and is able to help make sense of chaos and create calm. She was crucial to keeping things running in the kitchen at Camporee. She has been a huge boon to our troop over the years. Bravo and thank you so much! 

Saskia Hoffman (61175)

Saskia made our cookie season run so smoothly, both scouts and parents had a great time. Her awe-inspiring efficiency just blows me away! We are so grateful for her precious time!

Vianney Aquino (61515)

Vianney is one of the backbones of our troop. She hosted and assisted with a number of troop events this year, has attended Camporee several years, and is always willing to raise her hand to help.

This is our Service Unit’s first year offering the Scoutdoor Award, which recognizes a volunteer, leader, or troop that did especially creative or an exceptional number of outdoor activities.

Christine Case-Lo & Corey Hindersinn (61511)

Corey and Christine are wonderful troop co-leaders, but this year they have gone above and beyond in helping to organize outdoor adventures for our scouts. They put together a program for our troop to learn to kayak at Shoreline lake, culminating in a trip to kayak at Elkhorn slough. They also put together meetings to learn about backpacking, and took a few of our scouts on a trial backpacking trip to help learn how to organize a full troop backpacking trip in the fall.  They have worked with the scouts earning their outdoor journey, hiking, and family camping, and are in the process of organizing an environmental related take action project.  They have made it an amazing year of outdoor adventures for 61511.

Marilyn Nourse (60911 & 61874)

Marilyn has been an incredible outdoor mentor for our scouts. She has a deep history of scouting in the outdoors, beginning with her own Silver Award project, which is still in use at Camp Two Sentinels. Marilyn supports multiple troops in achieving their outdoor adventures, from planning and leading a Brownie camping trip with multiple outdoor badges, to chaperoning troops at Camporee. Marilyn is also our service unit’s only certified lifeguard. She has volunteered her skills to support other troops in their outdoor water endeavors, including the kayak trip that Christine and Corey led for 61511.

The Volunteer of Excellence was created to recognize outstanding service providing the Girl Scout Leadership Experience or mission delivery to girls and adults. For Volunteer of Excellence, we are looking for individuals who exceed expectations in at least two of the following areas: Program Delivery, Diversity & Inclusivity, Membership, Communications, and Strategic Leadership/Governance. Examples might include involving adults in the community to help broaden the program opportunities for girls, increasing girl membership to support the council membership goal, selecting a wide range of program activities with girls to provide them with the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, helping girls to recognize, understand, and practice the values of inclusive behavior, and building an effective girl-led approach. The Volunteer of Excellence award is also used to recognize previous Green Angel recipients who have continued to provide exemplary service for at least two years.

Anna Soland (60905)

Anna is an incredibly organized, dedicated and creative leader who has brought so many wonderful experiences to her troop, from First Aid to horseback riding. She and her co-leader have done a phenomenal job creating a scaffold for their troop towards being truly girl-led, with well-organized and consistent kaper roles and their first truly girl-led badges this year in 3rd grade. She also somehow finds the best and most beautiful fun craft projects, like three dimensional origami paper ornaments. She also contributes quite a bit at the Service Unit level. Anna has led the Winter Skate event for the past two years, even sleeping in her car overnight to get our preferred date. She is invaluable as an advisor and masterful in the feedback that she offers. Anna, we are so glad to have you!

Corey Hindersinn (61511 & 61175)

This year Corey took on the role of registrar, chief paperwork engineer, and spreadsheet whisperer for Camporee 2024. This is a surprisingly complicated role requiring many hours of work and a lot of paper and ink. No one in a Crew role has ever volunteered to take on this task before. Corey did the job with a can do spirit and an invaluable sense of humor. They streamlined the process and dealt with a lot of last minute changes and redos with grace and calm. Their incredible ability to get things done and to get positive results out of challenging circumstances is inspiring. They are always someone that everyone knows that they can rely on - but someone who can communicate if they are overwhelmed and need help. A rare and beautiful combination.

Lynette Gilson (62873)

Lynette led a troop of very active Scouts from the time they were Daisies through their high-school graduation. Her troop had many differing needs as they became older Scouts and Lynette created the space for some of them to work as Camporee volunteers, some of them to get their gold awards, and some of them to be heavily involved in other extra curricular activities while still keeping her troop together and strong through their high-school years. In addition, Lynette has been an active participant willing to help wherever needed at Camporee, starting when her older daughter became Crew nearly a decade ago. For the last three years, Lynette co-led all the meetings leading up to Camporee, contributed great ideas to the Camporee experience, and acted as a role model for how to work as part of a leadership team. Lynette works hard, loves her Scouts and built an amazing group of future leaders who truly are Girls of Courage, Confidence and Character. She will be sorely missed as her youngest daughter graduates from high-school and she moves on from Scouting this year.

Makenzie Gallego

Makenzie has been an excellent troop leader, going above and beyond her usual role this year.  She has helped scaffold scouts to lead their own social events, badge meetings, and has helped shepherd a Silver Award team.  She also took on the role of cookie chair for our troop, when we lost this volunteer for the year.  Not only is her service to the troop impeccable, but she does so in a unique way to help empower the scouts to lead.  Her goal is to give them the tools to run the troop for themselves.  This year she also helped to spear head the decorations for the Fall GS dance, and again brought the scouts into this process in a way that helped them make this project their own.  

Christine Case-Lo (61511) - Outstanding Mentor

Christine is being nominated for her dedication to welcoming diversity in her troop and the service unit. She actively recruited Latina girls from her troop’s starting school, a Spanish/English dual immersion school. Ultimately, half the scouts were native Spanish speakers. Christine worked hard to support and retain those scouts and other from diverse backgrounds by offering financial aid, carpooling to help single working moms, continuous bilingual troop communication and more. Christine has brought her passion for diversity and inclusion into the broader GS community as well, hosting an online around-the-world series during COVID, evolving it into an annual Passport Day event, speaking on a diversity panel at Discoveree, and more! Christine, thank you for your efforts in this important area.

Mendy Thijssen (61513) - Outstanding Mentor

Mendy’s energy and enthusiasm for helping scouts has been an inspiration to many new leaders, and her confidence and drive have helped her multi-level troop to continue to thrive despite the challenges we have all experienced through recent years. Her mentorship for scouts seeking higher awards has been a boon to our service unit, and her contacts throughout the community have helped Girl Scouts make a difference in our city.

Sarah Holevoet (60911) - Lifts Us Up

Christine Fawcett (Backpacking Interest Group)

Christine Fawcett has led and supported the volunteer-supported and scout-focused Girl Scouts of Northern California Backpacking Interest Group for over a decade. During her long service, Christine has supported scouts and adults learning to backpack in all imaginable ways - hosting introductory nights, managing paperwork, mentoring new leaders, cultivating our community email list, submitting regular approvals, finding us locations to meet, and so much more. 

Christine has served hundreds of scouts in the Bay Area, stretching from Point Reyes to Henry Coe, from Portola Redwoods to Sunol Wilderness. Specifically, she not only trained and supported these scouts and multiple troops through education and leadership on regular BIG trips, she also put in extra effort to provide additional meeting options in San Francisco, Fremont, and Cupertino as this was limiting scouts ability to engage with the minimum training requirements prior to trips. In addition, Christine has provided an amazing opportunity for connection and support by networking with the (Southern) California Girl Scout backpackers (CAGS) in San Diego, attending their conferences for years as the sole representative of our northern contingent. This January, Christine pioneered hosting the Girl Scout Backpacking Summit up here at Camp Butano, and leaders attended from Southern California through Oregon. This was such a special event and provided leaders with much-needed community, connection, and concrete suggestions and support for our special segment of scout leadership.

Elaine Zuber (61686 & 61511)

Elaine is a powerhouse that helps three troops and beyond with a thousand and one things. She has led 2 troops in their Bronze Award with grace and wisdom, and is currently working with a third troop to start their Bronze Award next year..She is currently working with her troop on their Silver Award projects as well. She always goes above and beyond, and has a thoughtful approach to every aspect of planning. 

She has been a cookie chair, sometimes involved with the cookie details for 3 troops at once, and made it possible for all scouts to participate in some way in cookie sales and the lessons learned therein. She has helped with event planning, and is always there to lend a hand to bring everything together into a cohesive whole. She has also been vital to the efforts to recruit and retain Latina scouts, helping the scouts and their families feel welcome and become a vital and active part of their troops, no matter any potential language barriers. She has been vital in allowing scouts to develop confidence and feel the impact they can make on their communities. Her experience has helped other leaders become better at their role, and we don’t know how we would do it without her. Thank you, Elaine, for all the amazing ways you support your three troops and the service unit. We appreciate you so much!

Laura Weller (Backpacking Interest Group)

Laura Weller has been an integral part of the Girl Scouts of Northern California Backpacking Interest Group for over a decade. Laura has been a wonderful BIG leader, leading scouts ages 11 to 18 in a myriad of backpacking skills, in the frontcountry and in the backcountry, providing support and guidance for adults and troops looking to expand her horizons. Laura also critically served as the BIG Finance Lead, and with her support, we were able to keep trips remarkably affordable - our weekend trips are typically $10 - and has kept BIG afloat, especially with the pandemic disrupting our operations significantly. 

In addition, Laura has gone above and beyond in supporting our trainings by connecting us with Sports Basement and providing more options for meeting locations (a real barrier for many of our scouts on weeknights) and further sharing her knowledge in gear discounts and group opportunities for savings. As an accomplished adventurer herself, she was able to share her John Muir Trail gear and stories with the scouts, and hopefully inspire them to take up the same iconic hike someday!

This was Laura’s last year in Northern California and has recently moved to Oregon. We hope to honor her many years of service and wonderful support.