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Jocelyn Ng, a junior at Foothill High School, recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award for coding her own website, Inclusion Education, which allows easy access for children with special needs to her animated enrichment videos.
Ng said she started brainstorming for this project in 2019 when she was a sophomore, wanting to host events for special needs children that would allow them to connect with the community and learn through hands-on experiments.
With the pandemic she could no longer host in-person events, and her plan was shut down, but she continued to brainstorm.
“I had to find a way to make an impact on my community that was safe,” she recalled. “I combined two concepts that I am really passionate about: STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and working with children.”
She said the biggest inspiration for the project was her sister, a special needs student in Pleasanton.
“My idea started when I noticed my sister had trouble engaging in her daily online classes and she was not able to pick up all of the concepts that were taught in her class,” Ng said. “I decided to create animated videos of reading stories, teaching science experiments, learning counting and instructing students on how to grow their garden.
“Through these educational enrichment videos, I was able to make online learning a fun and hands-on experience that could be done in the safety of your own home,” she continued. “I wanted my project to have a lasting impact and I was able to do this through the online website I created.”
“Finding what I was truly passionate about channeled my determination to make my community a better place,” she added.
Ng, the daughter of Bill Ng and Wendy Yang of Pleasanton, has been a member of Girl Scout Troop 30821 since its founding seven years ago. She said she has enjoyed the troop’s community service opportunities, such as packing food at the Kids Against Hunger warehouse to be sent to developing countries; picking up trash near a lake; and volunteering at a race.
For her Silver Award, she and some other Scouts hosted a fire safety event with the fire department that was geared toward elementary students. It was held in downtown Pleasanton in May in 2018.
Her project website is here.