Two graduating seniors from Patchogue-Medford High School have just earned the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Girl Scout.
Ambassador Girl Scouts Antoinette Mavrotheris and Caitlin Rodriguez of Troop 509 in Patchogue each received a Gold Award on Sunday.
Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri honored the young women during a special ceremony.
Both young ladies earned the award for their individual, year-long efforts in assisting Patchogue-Medford Youth Community Services, a non-profit organization that provides in-school counseling and empowerment programs, holiday assistance, and social and recreational programs for children and families in Patchogue-Medford.
Only 5.4 percent of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn a Gold Award through the leadership development organization.
According to the Girl Scouts website, to earn a Gold Award, Scouts must “build a career network that encourages girls to become scientists and engineers.”
Read: The Highest Award that can be earned by Girl Scouts
The announcement of the local Gold Award recipients was made Monday.
“As a small, locally driven non-profit, we rely heavily on the kindness and generosity of the surrounding community, and seeing both Antoinette and Caitlin make a positive difference helping us was extremely inspiring,” the group’s executive director, Kourtney Bevis, said in a statement. “These two young ladies truly exemplify the Girl Scouts credo to ‘make the world a better place’.”
Mavrotheris plans on attending Worchester Polytechnic Institute to study robotics, while Rodriguez will attend Long Island University to study nursing.
Photo (L-R): Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri; Ambassador Girl Scouts Caitlin Rodriguez and Antoinette Mavrotheris, both of Patchogue Troop 509; Kourtney Bevis, executive director of PMYCS, and Teresa Reilly, associate director, PMYCS. (Photo courtesy of PMYCS)
