MILL CREEK — Everett resident Katie Dungan, 19, is restless despite fulfilling the requirements to earn a Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts.
Last fall, Dungan helped restore wetlands in the May’s Pond neighborhood in Bothell as her service project to earn the award.
But last week, Dungan said her work isn’t done helping restore the area, which she described as “a work in progress.”
“I feel like I should go back and work on it,” she said.
Dungan created a service project to assist wetland restoration efforts in the May’s Pond community. After participating in several small wetland projects, she decided to create a Gold Award project involving a larger effort to repair damaged wetlands around the pond, which included replacing invasive plants with native ones.
Dungan was the first Girl Scout to work toward her Gold Award in this restoration effort. Her project complemented several service projects organized by Boy Scouts trying to earn an Eagle Scout Award.
In June, she was honored along with other Girl Scouts for earning the Gold Award.
“I really liked seeing so many girls who had gone through (Girl Scouts) to the end,” she said.
The issue of restoring the area was a prickly topic, Dungan quickly realized. After posting signs indicating the site was a buffer zone and not to touch the local environment, the signs were removed by people opposing her restoration efforts, she said.
Barb Sleeper, president of the May’s Pond Homeowner’s Association, helped Dungan navigate through politics and opposition by acting as her project mentor.
“She did a lot of work,” Dungan said.
Dungan graduated last year from Jackson High School in Mill Creek. She is studying oceanography at Everett Community College and plans to transfer to a university to complete a bachelor’s degree.
“I really like school and the opportunities it gives you,” she said.
One opportunity materialized earlier this year as an offer to intern at the Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes. Dungan was one of eight interns who worked on research projects with graduate students and professors.
Dungan joined the Girl Scouts 14 years ago. As an adult volunteer, she can serve as a program aide at Camp Lyle McLeod, which she once attended. She hopes to teach younger Girl Scouts one of her hobbies, boating.
“I get to teach them how to camp and be a Girl Scout,” she said.
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