Emma Lenz

Emma Lenz (b. May 3, 2002) is a Girl Scout Ambassador, current member of Troop 2000 and a 2019 Gold Award recipient.

Emma is a junior at Lynbrook High School and knew that she wanted to combine her love of art with her passion for history in her Girl Scout Gold Award project. The best way to do that, she decided, would be to write and illustrate a children’s book about the history of Lynbrook. She then presented her idea at a Historical Society of East Rockaway and Lynbrook meeting, and President Patricia Sympson recommended that she go to the Lynbrook Public Library to look for any resources about the village’s history.

Emma then decided to use Art Mattson’s book, “History of Lynbrook,” as an inspiration for her book, “Memories of Lynbrook.” The book focuses on a young girl, Georgie, who looks through her Grandma Pearsall’s scrapbook of Lynbrook memories. Throughout the book, Georgie’s grandmother shares facts about the town, including the history of Lynbrook’s schools, important figures and monuments.

The book took about a year and a half for Emma to finish. She used the self-publishing outlet IngramSpark to publish the book, and received the final version of her work before the holiday season.

Then, to complete her Gold Award project, Emma spent the past few weeks reading the book to kindergarteners. On January 28, 2019, she read the book to Sharon Dunn’s kindergarten class and after the reading, the students had the opportunity to ask Emma questions. She spoke about the writing process, when the book was finally completed and growing up in Lynbrook herself. Emma’s grandmother, Claire Lenz, got the opportunity to watch her presentation.

Copies of Emma’s book are available for purchase at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, or could be borrowed from the Lynbrook Public Library.