Katie Stansfield
Katherine Stansfield, daughter of garden club member, Darlene Stansfield and
granddaughter of members Joe and Shirley Pedone, is the recipient of our
scholarship for 2009.  She was presented with a check at our meeting on July 2.
Goshen Girl Scout goes for the gold
Teen awarded highest honor in Scouting
BY JOHN MCKENNA
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

GOSHEN — Katherine Stansfield has made the most of her 12 years as a Girl Scout, earning all
kinds of badges and recognition for her accomplishments.

Her most impressive and final honor in Scouting came Sunday, when she was present­ed with the
Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Scouting, during a ceremony at St. Thomas of Villanova
Church.

The Girl Scout Gold Award, earned by only 6 percent of Scouts ages 14 to 18, recognizes
leadership, creativity and community involvement. Stansfield reached the pinnacle of Scouting by
remodeling a room at the church that is used before Mass by altar servers and for storage.

She spent several weeks last summer planning the project, raising money to buy supplies, and
doing the work. She fol­lowed up by recruiting and training altar servers, and creating an altar
server booklet.

“When I first started working on my Gold Award last year around this time, I didn’t think I would be
able to do it,” Stans­field said in her remarks during the ceremony. “But I was able to do it. I
worked hard to earn the Gold Award.”

Stansfield is a senior at Wamogo Regional High School and will attend St. Joseph’s College in West
Hartford, where she will pursue a degree in education. She credited her parents, Tom and Darlene,
for their guidance during her years in Scouting; adult leaders from her troop, Troop 40073 of
Torrington; and her Gold Award adviser, Vicki Lynch, who helped her with the plan for the church
project.

“When you work on the Gold Award, you will earn respect from all because of the responsibility
you take on while completing the steps it takes to achieve the award,” Stansfield said.

Goshen Selectman John Krukar presented Stansfield with a citation from the Board of Selectmen,
and Sen. Andrew W. Roraback, R-Goshen, did the same on behalf of the legislature.

“Anyone who knows Katie or has been fortunate to get an extra scoop of ice cream from her at
Nellie’s knows she is a cheerful person,” Roraback said. “We’re here to celebrate all she’s given
to St. Thomas, to the community and to Scouting. I’m sure all of the young girls in Scouting who are
here look up to her as a role model.”

Stansfield was also recognized by Connie Bodak, senior vice president and Girl Scout liaison of the
Torrington Memorial Auxiliary Unit of the Marine Corps League, and Duanne P. Knowles, a Scouting
liaison officer for the Marine Corps League of Torrington.












JOHN MCKENNA REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Katherine Stansfield of Goshen smiles for the crowd at St. Thomas of Villanova
Church in Goshen on Sunday after receiving the Girl Scout Gold Award.
This article appeared in The Republican-American newspaper on May 18, 2009
By RONALD DEROSA

GOSHEN — A local Senior Girl Scout, who conducted a renovation project of
room in a town church, is scheduled to receive the highest award possible in a
ceremony this Sunday.

The Scout, Katherine Stansfield, conducted a remodelling and reorganizing
project of a back room of St. Thomas Church, 71 North Street, which she
completed in September 2008. The room is regularly used by altar servers as
well as storage for religious decorations. Stansfield planned the project out in
the hopes of achieving the Gold Award, a prestigious recognition that only six
percent of Girl Scouts nationwide achieve.

She succeeded, and is scheduled to be given the award during a 2 p.m.
ceremony on Sunday, May 17, at St. Thomas Church. Stansfield is one of only 43
throughout the entire state to be bestowed the Gold Award recognition, she
said.

“I’m the only one from Goshen so far,” she added. “And the first one... as far as
we know.”

The state will also hold a ceremony acknowledging the Gold Award recipients in
June, she said.

The back room that she fixed up needed significant carpentry and painting
done, all of which was completed in the year-long process of planning and
execution from 2007 to 2008, said Darlene Stansfield, Katherine’s mother. She
fixed up the room, got rid of the clutter, installed curtains and fixed the
shelving, Darlene said.

Katherine delegated some of the work to others and utilized volunteers to get
the project done. “I helped build everything, and I designed the project,” she
said.

Katherine first began training for the Gold Award in the fall of her junior year,
beginning with the paperwork and planning. The construction project happened
in August 2008, and afterwards she commenced the second phase: recruiting
and training alter servers. She even wrote a booklet on all the important tips
and rules about being an altar server, Darlene said.

Katherine, 17, is an altar server herself, having served as one for five years.

“It took a long time, a lot of paperwork, and getting it approved,” Katherine said.
“And starting and finishing it in time for school.”

While the project was long and perhaps daunting, it is all a matter of having the
determination to finish it, Katherine said. “If anybody wants to do it, they can do
the Gold Award if they put their mind to it,” she said. “If they have the ambition,
any Girl Scout out there can do it.”

Katherine has been a Girl Scout for 13 years, most recently being a part of Troop
40073 from Torrington. Apart from that long experience, she has also been part
of the Sisters Under Sail leadership program for the past several summers.
There, she is sent off on a boat called the Unicorn into Long Island Sound,
where she learns about sailing.

Katherine is a senior at Wamogo High School, where she is involved in field
hockey, swimming, school theater productions and choir. She said she plans on
attending St. Joseph’s College in Hartford, with a major in secondary education
and possibly either history or English.

This article appeared in The Register Citizen newspaper on May 12, 2009.
JIM MOORE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Katie Stansfield of Goshen, one of 16 people rescued when the tall ship
Unicorn ran aground off the Massachusetts coast this week, recalled a
calm and orderly response from both the crew and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Katie Stansfield - Page 2
Return To Home Page


















Goshen teen had close look at drama on tall ship


BY JIM MOORE

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN  - Monday, August 10, 2009

GOSHEN — A local teen came away from a cruise aboard the Unicorn with a bit of a sea story.
Katie Stansfield was on board the 118-foot tall ship that ran aground off the Massa­chusetts
coast Wednesday, drawing a prompt rescue from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Stansfield, 17, said she was on the starboard (right side) rail getting a knot-tying lesson when
the all-metal vessel lurched over at about 10:30 a.m. in calm weather, within sight of shore. At
first, she said, she thought it was just a wave, but the vessel had stopped in its tracks, and the
crew started handing out life jackets.

The Unicorn, owned by “Sis­ters Under Sail,” a nonprofit group founded by Dawn Santa­maria
in 2005 to give teenage girls leadership training at sea, was not badly damaged, Stans­field
said. It had run aground on a notorious reef, and required three tugboats to pull it free. Damage
was confined to a long “scratch” on the hull, Stansfield said. The Coast Guard arrived within five
minutes, and the crew stepped easily onto the waiting rescue vessel.

Stansfield, who soon will be­gin her undergraduate studies at Saint Joseph College in West
Hartford and plans to be a teacher, said lessons in staying calm in the midst of crisis had
already been well-taught aboard the Unicorn, and no­body lost their cool.

The rescue drew extensive media coverage. Stansfield, who was making her third voy­age
aboard the Unicorn, her first as an intern, said she would jump at the chance to make another
trip