High School Girls Blaze Trail into Scouting History as Local Council’s First Female Eagle Scouts

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Images via Chester County Council, Scouts BSA.
Savannah S., left, and Paige C. have made Scouting history as the first female Eagle Scouts in Chester County.

The first Eagle Scouts in Chester County date back more than 100 years, to May 1918, and to date, just 6,845 Scouts have had the honor to serve in life with the wings that the Chester County Council has awarded them.

To illustrate the exclusivity of achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, only four percent of all Scouts reach this highest honor.

After the Boy Scouts of America decided a few years ago to expand its membership to include girls – and change its name on the national level to Scouts BSA – the Chester County Council recently celebrated its inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts.

Savannah S., a junior at the Downingtown STEM Academy, and Paige C., a senior at Conestoga High School, are two young women whose names will forever be etched in local Scouting history. They have blazed the trail for thousands of young women to realize the possibilities that Scouting has to offer to all youth.

Savannah hopes to study neuroscience in college. She began her Scouting career as a founding member of Troop 19 Marshallton on Feb. 1, 2019 and has served as both a Patrol Leader and the Troop Scribe. As the eldest member of the troop of 30 girls, Savannah is a patient, helpful mentor to her fellow Scouts, including her sister, Lila, as she guides them on their own trail to Eagle. Over the summer, she helped plan safe outings, so that her troop could complete requirements for the Camping Merit Badge, despite the pandemic.

She channeled her enthusiasm for cross-country and track into an Eagle project at the ChesLen Preserve in Coatesville. This project involved the plotting and marking of a 5K course that she then had certified. She now joins her father as a fellow Eagle Scout, something he never dreamed was possible as a father of four girls.

“I am super-excited to be one of the first female Eagle Scouts,” Savannah said. “I hope by doing this I have shown younger girls around me that no matter who you are, your hard work pays off.”

At Conestoga, Paige is a member of the diving team and color guard and plans to study civil engineering in college. She is a founding member of Devon 50 Girls Troop has led it as Senior Patrol Leader since June 2019, planning campouts and service activities, arranging meetings, and leading 13 youth members, including her sister, Brooke.

For her Eagle project, Paige planned, managed, and constructed a safe and beautiful outdoor stairway at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Wayne to replace the old and unsteady stairs. The job required a lot of labor and expertise, but she led the project by recruiting, collaborating with, and supervising volunteers for anything she was not directly doing herself. The new stairway fits in seamlessly with a retaining wall built by her brother Owen for his Eagle project a few years prior.

Paige also joins her father as a fellow Eagle Scout, proof that Scouting is an activity the whole family can enjoy.

“I grew up around Scouting, but never thought that I would be able to be a part of the program that my dad and brother loved and have the opportunity to work toward Eagle Scout,” Paige said. “But over the past two years, having the opportunity to be a Scout and lead my troop has helped me grow, not only as a person but as a leader, and I have made some of my best memories and friends because of Scouts.”

Click here to learn more about joining Scouts BSA.

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