Recordpub.com - Community spirit blossoms in Ravenna

Community Garden Alyssa Mauser photo by Robert J. Lucas

By Melissa Dilley

Special to the Record-Courier

Alyssa Mauser’s community gardens in Ravenna are finally in full bloom after more than a year of planning the project to receive her Girl Scout Gold Award.

The gardens, located on North Chestnut Street in front of the Chestnut Hills community-built playground, are separated into 12 plots, which were purchased and are tended by community members.

When Mauser, who has been a Girl Scout for nearly ten years, thought about what to do for her final project, she considered what the community could use most, she said.

“I wanted to create a place where people could not only grow their own food and save some money, but also a place people could call their own and meet up with other community members,” she said. “Ravenna is a small town, but it’s not like you say ‘hi’ to everyone you see at the grocery store. But (at the gardens) we spend time with each other.”

Mauser tends a plot with her mother and a family friend. She says they take turns watering and weeding and one of them is there almost every day.

However, getting the gardens started wasn’t as easy as digging up dirt and planting, Mauser said. First she had to draw up a plan to present to Ravenna City Council.

By August, all the plans were accepted and a plot was chosen.

But because planting season for most vegetables is typically May, Mauser and the city put the project on hold until this spring.

Elaine Van Hoose, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, helped Mauser plan the project. She said as soon as plots were put up for sale in the spring, they were sold out.

Plots could be purchased in 10-foot-by-10-foot and 20-foot-by-20-foot spaces for $10 and $20. While there are only 12 plots this year, Van Hoose said it’s likely that next year more plots will be created because of the high demand.

Although Mauser has put her 65-plus required hours into the project for her Girl Scout award, she said it’s not something she will forget when she goes to the University of Akron in the fall. She said receiving the award obligates her to continue her contribution so she will always be nurturing the project.

Tina Hughes, Mauser’s leader of Troop 89, said she has always recognized Mauser as motivated and mature.

“She didn’t bow to peer pressure of still being a Girl Scout,” she said. “Most girls drop out around high school because of it. I think it says something for (her and the two other girls still in the troop) that they’ve stayed with something for this long and haven’t turned their backs on it.”

Girl Scouts are not required to work toward Bronze, Silver and Gold awards, but Mauser said she didn’t have to think about doing projects to receive the highest achievements because it is such an important part of her life.

“I wanted to be able to say I’d done it and be able to help my community. I didn’t do it for show and there is no scholarship involved. I just wanted to do it,” she said.

Although Mauser has been working on the project for more than a year, she won’t receive her award until she proves she has spent at least 65 hours on the project and submits a final report reflecting on her experience. Her reports are due in July.

If the Girl Scout Council accepts her project, she will receive her award at a ceremony in September.

In the fall, Mauser said she plans to continue her community involvement, first by joining a sorority at UA. While a student at Ravenna High School, Mauser was president of Ravenna Youth Council, vice president of Student Council and a member of National Honor Society and the Quiz Bowl and Academic Challenge teams. She said sitting around just isn’t her style.

“I don’t think I could just step out of it and do nothing,” she said. “I’m too used to helping.”