Staff report
Two Carmel teens, Lizzie Snyder and her brother Ben Snyder, have earned the highest service awards in scouting within the past year.
Lizzie Snyder’s Girl Scout Gold Award Project combined two of her most passionate interests — physical fitness and children.
She pioneered “5 For the Future: A Fitness Revolution,” a program piloted at Sycamore School in Indianapolis, which created a daily five-minute exercise program for children as part of their morning classroom routine.
Complete with online programs, support, calendars, exercise videos and healthy living tips for teachers to easily access, Lizzie’s original website made fitness fun, easy and affordable for school children and their teachers.
Her service project was inspired by the alarming rates of childhood obesity and related illnesses, and is currently under consideration for implementation in other area elementary schools.
Lizzie, 17, was awarded her Girl Scout Gold Award at the Girls of Distinction Luncheon hosted by the Girls Scouts of Central Indiana in June 2013. Lizzie is currently a member of Troop 1762 and a junior at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis.
Ben Snyder earned his Eagle Scout Award in October of 2013.
A member of Carmel Boy Scout Troop 112, Ben’s Eagle Scout Project involved designing and constructing a permanent starting shelter for BMX track competitors on the grounds of Marian University’s IndyCycloplex in Indianapolis.
It was a public-private partnership between the university and the Indianapolis Parks and Recreation Department.
In addition, he helped remove a great deal of brush and debris from an area between this Olympic-style bike track and the Major Taylor Velodrome and cleared tall weeds from the track’s interior.
Ben, 14, is completing his first year at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind., where he was awarded the full-ride Duchossois Merit Scholarship.
