Girl Scouts Name Park After Founder

The Girl Scouts could not have picked a better day to make history. With a large crowd of local officials and one very special guest on hand, Lynbrook’s troop 2237 dedicated a mini-park, or parkette, in the name of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low on Sunday afternoon.

The parkette, located at the intersection of Huntington Avenue and Windsor Place, is the first park in New York State named after the famous founder. Sunday’s ceremony coincided with the beginning of 100th anniversary week, celebrating a century of girl scouting in America.    

The idea for the park came after the troop was asked to participate in a “take action” project. 

“(The project) started approximately one year ago,” co-troop leader Michelle Holquist said. “We got together with the village of Lynbrook and planted about 50 saplings, transplanted them, and planted some smaller trees.”

After discovering that the mini-park was unnamed, the troop approached the Village Board and inquired about naming the space after Low.

The Board, many of whom attended the Sunday ceremony, was very enthusiastic about the project. 

“Assemblyman (Brian) Curran has promised me that when he gets back to Albany he’s going to remind them that Lynbrook, again, led the way and had the first park named after Mrs. Low,” Mayor William Hendrick said with a grin.

The event was not only a celebration of Low, but one for the entire Girl Scouts organization. 

“I can not think of a better dedication for this park than the Girl Scouts,” Curran said. “For 100 years, (it) has been an organization that has helped young ladies become young women.”

Donna Ceravolo, Executive Director and CEO of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, spoke about 2012 being “The Year of the Girl,” an initiative examining the reasons why women are not moving into more leadership positions around the country. 

“Women are out-pacing men in graduation from college and make up almost 50 percent of every law and medical class that graduates. But, women are not moving to leadership roles,” Ceravolo said. “Sometimes they say they don’t want to be ‘in the fray‘ (or) they don’t want to give up that much of themselves and their families to be open to criticism (and) be in conflict situations. But, we know that if women were there, there would be a lot less conflict and a lot more balance.”    

Anna Maria Chavez, National CEO of the Girl Scouts, has set a goal for women to be in 50 percent of the leadership roles in “corporate,  government, and science America” within one generation, according to Ceravolo. 

And it all started with Low, who was also a guest at the ceremony (in the form of an impersonator, of course).