Bay Area Girl Scout honors veterans with Gold Award project

Student honors vets with commemorative benches

A high school senior’s Girl Scout project is showing her appreciation for veterans.

TAMPA, Fla. - Plant High School Senior Kathleen Roset pursued her Gold Award project with a simple idea, creating a memorial bench for veterans, but in researching how to make the project happen, she discovered the veteran's community in a way she had never experienced before.

"I wanted to do something that would honor patriots and veterans," she recalled. "I wanted to build a bench to show my appreciation... Since there are more than just one military branch, I had to do one for each."

The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can receive. Her project required a commitment of time, resources, and putting herself out there to lobby for a location for the benches to be displayed permanently.

Roset put in the sweat equity too as she worked with an engineer for the plans, cut the boards for the construction and put together the benches by hand.

"It's been a lot of work," she admitted. "It took several months working with different parks trying to find a place but eventually we found the legion, and that was great because it's right on the water."

READ: Girl Scouts of West Central Florida receives $2 million donation from MacKenzie Scott

Roset put in the sweat equity too as she worked with an engineer on the plans, cut the boards for the construction, and put together the benches by hand.

"That took a long time, but I got to work with power tools," she said with a smile.

Iconic green benches upgraded into swings

The $20,000 prototype was paid for by the Majeed Foundation and provides a spectacular waterfront seat in a city that made sitting famous.

She hand-painted each bench herself and was there in person on Veterans Day when the benches were presented to the veterans at American Legion Post 138 in Tampa.

READ: Tampa Girl Scout troop welcomes girls and women of all ages, abilities

State Senator-Elect Jay Collins, a veteran present at the unveiling, said this of Roset, "Kathleen is an exceptional young woman who's going to do amazing things."

The benches were presented on Veterans Days at American Legion Post 138 in Tampa.

"I can tell you, the thing that moves me the most is that I was honored to serve our country," stated Collins. "To see a young person who is understanding that and sacrificing their time and being dedicated to passing those values forward to our community to support those who sacrificed is such a blessing."

Roset explained the lesson she learned in the project.

The benches are located at the American Legion Post 138 right off of West Shore Boulevard overlooking the water.

"They (veterans) do so much for everybody behind the scenes all the time, and so just to appreciate them all the time is really important because they're always there for us and we should always be there for them."

To see the benches in person, they are stationed at American Legion Post 138 right off West Shore Boulevard overlooking the water.

Click here to support Roset’s cause and donate to her Gold Award project.