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By , Staff Report 8:40 AM Wednesday, April 29, 2009

TIPP CITY — Ashley Sharp was honored at the Gold and Silver Awards Ceremony conducted by the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio Buckeye Trails Region in March for achieving the Girl Scout Gold Award.

The Gold Award is the highest award in Girl Scouting for outstanding accomplishments in the areas of leadership, community service, career planning and personal development. She is a member of Troop 1292.

Her Gold Award project was to improve the quality of life for patients at Children’s Medical Center in Dayton by providing them with a means to visit with others outside the hospital. Sharp was mentored by Karen Stormer, an employee of Children’s Medical Center.

Her solution was video phone calls using Web cameras and Skype, placing a camera in the patient’s hospital room, and a second camera with family or friends.

Sharp researched Web camera features to select the brand and model best suited for this application, learned how to install, use and de-install the cameras and the Skype software and wrote user-friendly step-by-step procedures for the hospital staff and parents to follow. She organized the equipment and instructions in plastic storage boxes and developed check-in and check-out procedures. She raised funds by bagging groceries for tips and organized a collection drive to acquire children’s books and movies for the hospital’s playrooms.

Sharp joined Girl Scouts when she was in kindergarten in York, Pa. She belonged to a Brownie troop in West Lafayette, Ind., for two years before moving to Tipp City, where she joined Troop 558. She transferred to Troop 1292 at the beginning of seventh grade and now is an adult life member.

Sharp graduated from Tippecanoe High School in 2008. She is a freshman at Purdue University, where she is majoring in actuarial science and statistics.

She is the daughter of Fred and Betty Sharp.

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