Huntington Senior Earns Girl Scout Gold Award
Marina Siegel’s interest in history spurred a project that earned the Huntington High School senior the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award. It’s an accomplishment that places the teenager at the pinnacle of the 102 year old organization.
“Working on my Gold Award project took about a year to complete,” Ms. Siegel said. “My goal was to document all of the historical blue and yellow signs around Huntington and create a website of them, including a description of the sign, its location and a picture of the site.”
Ms. Siegel said she got the idea for the project after reading the signs through the years while a car passenger riding around the town. “I was always reading these signs whenever I was in the car and thought how unfortunate it was that people see them all the time, yet don’t really appreciate the historical significance of them or how they correlate with the history of Huntington.”
The senior said she documented over 100 signs, evening finding six new ones that weren’t on the original list she had been given. “In addition, I discovered that over 20 signs were missing and wrote to the town to try and have them replaced,” Ms. Siegel said. Visit the website at www.huntingtonsigns.com to see the finished project and learn more about local history.
The Girl Scout Gold Award dates to 1916. It is presented to “the best and brightest [who have] improved themselves, their communities and the world,” according to the organization. The award
The teenager has been a student in the Huntington School District since her first day of kindergarten at Flower Hill School. All these years later, Ms. Siegel’s senior year schedule includes Introduction to Photography, Pre-Calculus, Advanced Placement Literature, AP Italian, Physics, AP Government, Economics and Senior Band.
“Some of my favorite teachers throughout high school would have to be Mr. [Craig] McKee for AP Environmental Science and Mrs. [Joann] Ferazi for Algebra 2 Trig,” Ms. Siegel said. “Mr. McKee always made the classroom experience interesting and entertaining with eccentric spirit and wonderful humor. Mrs. Ferazi always found a way to make every student feel welcomed and always helped us challenge ourselves.”
Ms. Siegel is involved in many clubs and honor societies at Huntington High School, including Key Club, Habitat for Humanity, Gay- Straight Alliance, National Honor Society, English Honor Society, Social Studies Honor Society, Art Honor Society, Italian Honor Society, Science Honor Society and Tri-M Honor Society. She is the co- leader of the Blue Devil marching band’s PIT section.
The senior is interested in studying engineering in college. She plans to apply to University of Virginia, Villanova University, NYU, University of Richmond, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Reed College and Fordham University.
Ms. Siegel also plays alto sax in the high school jazz band and wind ensemble and in the senior band after the marching band season ends. She has rowed on the Blue Devil varsity crew and is certified in CPR and “responding to emergencies”
A participant in Huntington’s Relay For Life and a volunteer camp counselor for the Huntington Historical Society’s Passport to the Past program, Ms. Siegel also fundraises for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Ms. Siegel has traveled to Europe three times. “The first was as a Girl Scout to London, Paris and Switzerland,” she said. “I did pinning ceremonies at the Girl Scout World Centers in London and Switzerland. The second time was to Italy with my Italian teacher Mrs. [Silvia] Gilbert. The third time was to England and France with Ms. [Camille] Tedeschi, my social studies teacher and Ms. [Pamela] Piffard, my photography teacher. (The later trip was through EF Tours and not affiliated with the district.) These were amazing experiences and I hope to continue Italian in college and study abroad. Eventually, I hope to work for or with a company in Italy or Switzerland.”