Erika Zenchak, a senior at Riverside-Brookfield High School and a member of Girl Scout Troop 58180, recently earned her Gold Award, the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn.
As part of the Gold Award process, the scout must complete a community service project. Zenchak’s was called “Native Neighbors in Need” and focused on the needs and issues on a Native American reservation in South Dakota.
Zenchak collected and sent 270 pounds of clothing to a youth emergency shelter on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In addition, Zenchak provided an educational experience for eighth-grade students in her own community about the reservation, so they could better understand the hardships that children of a similar age endure just a few states away.
