Gold Award Girl Scout Kimberly Rosell and the staff of the Pelham Examiner were Tuesday awarded the Mayor’s Commendation for Excellence in Civic Service during the Village of Pelham Board of Trustees meeting.

Both Rosell and the Pelham Examiner also received citations from State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi during the meeting.

According to Mayor Chance Mullen’s proclamation honoring Rosell, she “created ‘Empathy Towards All,’ a project which lasted over two years, to strengthen the bonds of empathy between all community members and police officers by organizing a community volleyball tournament and a neighborhood safety workshop; designing and selling t-shirts and patches; fundraising to purchase a license plate reader for the Village of Pelham Police Department; and developing a documentary that features interviews from local community members and police officers on how to better relations nationwide.”

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, Mullen said.

“The Pelham Examiner has demonstrated extraordinary service to our community by fostering healthy public discourse around the important local and regional issues,” said the proclamation read by Mullen. “Pelham Examiner, a student-run, student-owned newspaper, includes young, dedicated individuals ranging in age from 10 to 21 who provide free content to the public, with no subscription required…In April of 2019, after less than a year of operation, Pelham Examiner was awarded by the New York Press Association an honorable mention for Best News Website in their 2018 Better Newspaper Contest, being described as the fourth best community newspaper site in New York State.”

Both proclamations said the mayor and trustees seek to honor residents “whose service to our community enhances and strengthens our collective civic life, in recognition that we all share responsibility for Pelham’s future and that we are all co-creators and stewards” of Pelham.

Biaggi’s citation to the Pelham Examiner also called out the paper’s award from the NYPA, saying the paper achieved “incredible recognition as one of the best online newspapers in New York.”