Why did you decide to pursue your Gold Award? 

“I decided to pursue my Gold Award because of the amazing leadership opportunities the project offered me.  One of the main components of the project is helping young girls to grow as leaders.  I am typically hesitant when it comes to reaching out to new people and orchestrating something on such a large scale.  Because of this, I think this has been a great experience for me so far in terms of growth regarding leadership and this aspect was one of the deciding factors in deciding to pursue the project.”

What are you aiming to achieve through this project?  

“My project, ‘Ms. McLeod’s Library,’ aims to help young children foster a love for reading.  The project entails a website filled with readings of different children’s books which are created by myself as well as the girls in our community.  Especially now with so many ways to entertain oneself, many young kids, such as my little brother, have less of an interest in books and more so in television shows or video games.  My brother was one of the people who brought this issue to my attention, as he dreads doing his reading for school unless my mom reads to him.  After she reads him one of his new favorite books, he became more independent in his reading and many times chose to read over watching television.  My thought behind the project was to present reading in a way that was more attractive to young kids today in hopes of peaking their interest.”

What is your favorite memory of Ms. McLeod? 

“Ms. McLeod was such an inspiration to me and she had such a huge influence on my love for reading.  She truly encouraged my love for books and I am so grateful for that.  One of my favorite memories of Ms. McLeod is when I would go down to the library during lunch almost every day in fifth and sixth grade.  She would let me and Catriona Marangi put stickers on all the new books, check books back in, stamp them, and we would get to read and talk to her while we were eating.  Although it may seem silly, she made me feel so special and important during those times.  Even after we stopped going down at lunchtime, she would always stop when I saw her in the halls to say hello and see how I was doing.  She was such a huge inspiration for this project and I hope it will do her memory justice.”

The King Street Chronicle thanks junior Mimi Greco ’22 for her contributions to “Humans of the Sacred Heart.”