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Omar uses scouting experience to help low-income girls
By Katie Grivna, Special to The Coppell Gazette
Sarah Omar, of Coppell, is working to empower the people in her community. She is an 18-year-old student studying international studies and religious studies as a freshman at American University using her experience as a Girl Scout to motivate elementary girls as part of the Young Leaders Program, which allows college students to act as Girl Scout troop leaders to economically disadvantaged elementary and middle school students for six weeks.
“Girl Scouts has formed so much of whom I am and a lot of my self-confidence,” she said. “I really want other girls to at least get a taste what that is like.”
Her experiences have shaped who she is, Omar said.
An earthquake hit the Kashmir region, located between the countries of Indian and Pakistan in 2005. Both neighboring countries claimed the region until the people of Kashmir needed help, Omar said.
Hearing of the lack of electricity, She and her best friend Satvika Ananth began thinking of how they could help.
Omar and Ananth made presentations to companies, church groups, friends and neighbors asking for donations to purchase solar-powered flashlights to send to the Kashmir region.
After 118 hours of work, the pair raised enough money to send 1,075 solar flashlights to students in the Kashmir region.
The Bridge of Lights program teamed up with the Central Asian Institute and the Citizens Foundations, two organizations that build schools in the region.
They also wrote letters to children in Pakistan.
Completing the project wasn’t only about receiving her Gold Award, Omar said.
“The moment I felt like I had done good in the world, was when we got a picture from the Central Asian Institute after they distributed the flashlights in the schools,” Omar said. “In one of the pictures has five girls holding the flashlights and they wrote on a chalkboard, ‘Thank you, Bridge of Lights.’”
The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, where Omar served as a scout, awarded 119 Gold Awards in 2010, said Monica Contreras, the director of marketing and communications for the Northeast Texas council.
Theresa Omar, Sarah’s mother, said she has always loved helping other people.
“She likes taking care of other people and she has always,” Theresa Omar said. “I remember, it was like her first week of kindergarten and she got [an] award for helping some other kids get adjusted to kindergarten.”
Rita Bauer, now a retired teacher, served as an advisor to the Bridge of Lights project.
“[Omar] showed an interest in things other than herself. Often freshmen girls are more concerned in what is going on around them,” she said. “Sarah already saw a bigger picture in what was going on in the world.”
Participating in the Young Leaders program is an opportunity to inspire young girls the same way she was, Omar said.
“It’s very rewarding for me as a person to help other people as well as it’s rewarding to help people,” she said. “I don’t just do it for myself.”
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