Clarksville council presents youth leadership awards to two students for community projects

Matia Brown, a senior at West Creek High School, and Kayla Salins, a junior at Clarksville High School, were presented youth leadership awards and certificates during a Clarksville City Council meeting after each described community projects that led to the honors.

The council presented the awards on behalf of the city; the two students also received recognition from their Girl Scout leaders. "I'm Kayla, and I, created and designed and donated outdoor musical instruments to a local preschool in my community," Kayla said. "Hi. I'm Matia, and I, I would say reconstructed a, safe room in my school, in West Creek High School, in their cafeteria, specifically. It's called the County Cafe. It was originally, as it was, a safe room, but then due to COVID, change of administrators, it, became a storage era, really."

The awards cited both students' extensive community service. Nadine Salins, who identified herself as one of two troop leaders and the mother of Kayla Salins, said the students had "given hundreds upon hundreds of hours for community service" and described work helping younger children and creating activities and environments to support emotional development. Troop leader Carlene Brown said the projects met the high-level requirements for top Girl Scout awards, including a multi-year effort and substantial time commitments. "First of all, they have to have a minimum of 80 a hundred and 80 hours. That's the minimum. And it took them 2 years," Brown said, describing the scope of the effort.

Council members presented certificates to the students and invited them back to share future accomplishments. The meeting record shows the presentation concluded before the council moved on to the Planning Commission public hearing and report.

The awards mentioned in the meeting included a national youth leadership award and the Girl Scouts' senior-level project requirements; the transcript references the Military Order of the Purple Heart National Youth Leadership Award and the Gold Award requirements discussed by troop leaders. The students' project details in the record: Kayla designed and donated outdoor musical instruments to a local preschool; Matia restored a previously designated safe room in her school's cafeteria, identified in the record as the County Cafe, after it had been repurposed for storage during the COVID-19 period.

The troop leaders noted the projects developed leadership and professional skills, including identifying advisors and writing substantial documentation for the awards. Carlene Brown emphasized the projects' educational value for college and career preparedness. The meeting transcript also records brief personal remarks from leaders and family members about the students' dedication and the emotional and paperwork demands of completing such projects.

No formal council vote related to the awards is recorded in the transcript; the record shows only presentation and certificates.