Congrats to Camryn Anderson from Troop 40429 for earning her Silver Award!
Camryn built a StoryWalk® at Ferguson Township Elementary school. A StoryWalk® is an outdoor installation that encourages movement and reading. Each station has a single page from the book and readers must move to the next station to continue the story. Camryn’s installation at Ferguson Township Elementary includes 19 different posts. Camryn made 4 different books for the walk, so that the school will be able to change out the stories.
Camryn saw that this project had been done at another school and wanted another school to have it as well. During the pandemic, the students weren’t allowed to use playground equipment, so she saw a need to create something fun to do outside. She worked with the school librarian and presented the project to a school PTO meeting. Building an installation on school grounds required a lot of coordination and approvals!
So many people and local businesses contributed knowledge and materials. It took a village! Thanks to David and Mardi Frye for their mentorship in construction, design and workshop time, Libby Snyder for her knowledge of StoryWalks, Principal Shelly Buckholtz, Custodian Jimmy Fogelman and Para Eileen Powers of Ferguson Elementary School, the State College Area School District’s Grounds Crew, Nancy Shiffler Abel and Bob Abel for help in transporting materials, Scott Varrassa and Josie for helping with the heavy lifting, and Dave Ascencio for reaching out to his contacts and then donating the remaining materials. Local businesses Eby Paving, YBC, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Melville Forestry Service all contributed to this project.
Awesome job Camryn! That is a great idea.
I am a very proud Grandma who actually got to see it. We were amazed by the hands on power tool usage by Camryn and by every single detail in this project. Thanks to her parents who encouraged her along this route.