Girl Scouts are common throughout Fullerton, but it is very rare to find those who have made it to completion. Troy High School Student Anisha Aluwihare is one of the few who have pursued the Girl Scout Gold Award, a final assignment for Girl Scouts to receive the highest honor possible for Girl Scouts. The Gold Award requires their scouts to address a global issue sustainably, meaning it must be able to outlive the one year the project was achieved.

In pursuit of her Gold Award, Aluwihare created Saving Our Oceans, a lesson plan dedicated to teaching students about ocean acidification. Her project was distributed to 5th-grade classrooms across 12 schools; it included a presentation and labs to help students visualize ocean acidification’s impact. Aluwihare’s Award is a step toward building more awareness of Climate Change. Her love for the ocean and her passion for chemistry inspired her.

“I love the ocean, and I’ve always been really passionate about conservation,”  said Aluwihare. The Gold Award was her way to express her passions and instigate further education to preserve the ocean she loves.

“I just really enjoy being in the water, and I wanted to make sure my project reflected that.” Aluwihare’s Gold Award project is an amalgamation of everything she loves and wants in her life.

Initially, Aluwihare intended to write a book to educate students about ocean preservation. However, after a discussion with her mentors, she decided that a book would not make the same impact as she imagined for the project. Creating a lesson plan made the content more engaging with hands-on activities.

“I also really liked to be able to interact with the kids, answer their questions, and get them excited about something,” said Aluwihare.
The process of creating the lesson plan was a team endeavor. She got help from her project advisor, who works at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. Not only did her mentor have experience in ocean research, but she also had experience in education. Aluwihare used this resource to create the initial draft of her lesson plan. Once she finalized the lesson plans, her parents helped build and assemble the lesson packages for distribution.

Aluwihare emailed around twenty 5th-grade teachers, 12 of whom committed to accepting the lesson plan. She introduced the lesson plan to around 400 students in 12 schools in Orange County. The teachers were then given three options: to teach the lesson plan themselves after a briefing with Aluwihare, to play a video of the lesson plan, or to allow Aluwihare to teach their class. Aluwihare preferred teaching the lessons herself, saying the experience was her “most gratifying experience” throughout her Gold Award pursuit.

As her journey with the Girl Scouts ends, Aluwihare is still planning on continuing her lessons. Although she can no longer teach the classes herself, all 12 teachers agreed to continue teaching the lessons for years to come. Aluwihare’s experience enriched the minds of 5th-grade classrooms and helped her refine her communication, time management, and leadership skills.

One message Aluwihare wants to share with the Fullerton community is, “I’d really like to thank all of the people who helped make this project possible. I couldn’t have done this without my project advisor, troop leader, all the teachers who participated, the eager students, and most of all, my parents. I’d also like to say that if any teachers are interested in using the lesson plans in their classroom, they can contact me at anisha.aluwihare@gmail.com.”