Around Town

‘A Safe Place To Nest’: Local Teen’s Project Aims To Help New Canaan Bats

By |

A local teen’s Girl Scout Gold Award project has seen the creation and installation of nesting habitats in three New Canaan parks for a largely misunderstood and threatened mammal. Celia Sokolowski, a 2019 graduate from New Canaan High School has hung five bat houses in trees at Kiwanis, Mead and Waveny Parks. 

A Girl Scout since the first grade, Sokolowski completed the project for her Gold Award, the highest achievement possible in the organization. To receive a Gold Award, candidates must complete 80 hours of service, Sokolowski said. She added that the project must be sustainable, and it must educate the public on an issue the candidate is passionate about. Sokolowski, who is headed to Indiana University in the fall to study business, had the idea to hang the bat houses after taking an AP environmental science class during her senior year at NCHS.

News

NCHS Junior Seeks To Create Toy Closet for Kids at Norwalk Hospital

By |

New Canaan High School junior Kaylee Paladino has seen first-hand how important it is for kids going through difficult treatments or surgeries at a hospital to have ready access to a toy. A brother had developed Crohn’s Disease, and it helped ease his anxiety at Stamford Hospital when he took advantage of a dedicated toy closet there, called ‘David’s Toy Chest.’

“He thought it was nice to get the toy and that made his experience better,” Kaylee recalled. Now, for her Girl Scouts Gold Award, the teen is seeking to create a similar feature at Norwalk Hospital. Kaylee has set up collection boxes at New Canaan Library and Ring’s End in Lewisboro, N.Y., and soon will have a third box at the high school, and she’s in the midst of converting what was a small bathroom at Norwalk Hospital into a new toy closet. “I need to build shelves, paint it, get the door painted and organize the toys—it’s a big project,” Kaylee said.