Family members, friends and community supporters gathered Saturday afternoon at the Clermont Historic Village to celebrate a project designed to bring comfort, hope and awareness to others for years to come.

There, 18-year-old Girl Scout Synthia Pascoe unveiled an inspirational rock garden she created for the Greater Clermont Cancer Foundation’s (GCCF) reflection garden, a project that earned her the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouts and the equivalent of an Eagle Scout Award.

The May 30 unveiling was attended by Synthia, GCCF President Laura Henry, directors Kay Simpson and Natasha Selski, volunteers from the Clermont Historic Village and several community members who stopped to admire the colorful display.

For Pascoe, the project was personal.

“My mom actually had thyroid cancer when she was pregnant with me and then my brother had melanoma before I was born,” she says. “Cancer is one of those things that most people are touched by somehow.”

A Juliette Girl Scout—a Girl Scout who participates independently rather than as part of a troop—Pascoe has been involved in the program since kindergarten. She previously earned both her Bronze and Silver Awards before setting her sights on the Gold Award.

“I knew I wanted to do something with GCCF so I decided to partner with them and do something along the lines of a kindness rock garden,” Synthia says.

The project consists of two large planters filled with painted rocks featuring inspirational messages, encouraging words and the colors associated with different types of cancer. Visitors are encouraged to take a rock and add one of their own.

QR codes attached to the planters allow visitors to learn more about Synthia’s project via her TikTok page about it, access information about GCCF, find out what colors are associated with what types of cancer and find instructions for creating similar rock gardens elsewhere.

The garden was added to GCCF’s tribute garden, a quiet space originally established in 2012 for individuals and families affected by cancer. The area includes benches and landscaping intended to provide a place for reflection, remembrance and healing. 

Completing the project required more than 100 hours of planning, organizing and hands-on work. Through a series of community rock-painting parties, Synthia enlisted friends, fellow Girl Scouts, family members and local students to help.

In all, volunteers filled five large buckets with painted rocks. Three buckets were used to stock the garden’s planters, while the remaining two buckets were entrusted to the Clermont Historic Village to replenish the display as needed, helping ensure the project remains sustainable long into the future.

“It made me feel really good because my entire time in Girl Scouts has always been helping the community and stuff,” Synthia says. “It’s kind of nice that I’m leaving the program having done something that brings some joy and inspiration.”

Among the hundreds of painted rocks are messages of encouragement and symbols representing different cancer causes. And even the planters are inspirational in that one features Carl the Caterpillar, a mascot associated with Camp Kesem, a program that supports children whose parents or guardians have been affected by cancer and the other reads “Make each day a little bit better than the last.”

Pascoe hopes the garden will offer visitors a simple but meaningful moment of encouragement.

“I hope people that are walking on the trail see it, and are like, ‘Whoa, wait, that’s pretty cool,’” she says. “And I hope that if they take a rock, it just makes them feel a little happier.”

GCCF leaders, who will be enhancing the flowers and landscaping, say the project adds a new dimension to the tribute garden while helping spread awareness about the organization’s mission.

“I’m thrilled with it and I think it’s so unique and different,” Laura says. “It will provide more inspiration and we don’t have to worry about watering it, which is great.”

Henry also hopes the project encourages more residents to discover and use the reflection garden.

“Hopefully it’ll spur the community to find where it is and to use it as it was intended,” she says.

Kay says the finished project exceeded expectations.

“I didn’t know what to expect. It was a complete surprise, but I love it,” she says. “I love the idea of take a rock, leave a rock, and hopefully people will actually take a rock and leave a rock and not just take rocks.”

The QR codes also provide another way for people to learn about GCCF and its services.

“It’s bringing awareness that we’re out there, that we’re there to help and that we’re always looking for volunteers.”

Natasha believes visitors will find comfort in the project for many years to come.

And as Synthia prepares to attend Florida Gulf Coast University to pursue a degree in marine science, she leaves behind more than a Gold Award project.

She leaves behind a place where visitors can pause, reflect and carry a small reminder that even during life’s hardest moments, hope can still be found in the smallest things.

“I think the inspirational rock garden is a great addition to our community,” Natasha says. “It adds color and gives people a little something that they can physically take home and keep for either remembering those they’ve lost or remember to keep on fighting.”