Fairfax County student becomes one of first and youngest female Eagle Scouts in history
FAIRFAX, Va. (ABC7) — A Vienna eighth-grade student has achieved something few girls have: she's become one of the nation's first and youngest female Eagle Scouts.
Katie Hunter enjoys being in nature, which is something she wasn't getting enough of as a Girl Scout.
"My troop didn't do as many outdoorsy things like rock climbing and white-water rafting and camping like I wanted to do that's why I wanted to be in Scouts BSA," she said.
Scouts BSA is a new name for a youth program formerly known as Boy Scouts.
When Boy Scouts of America began accepting girls in 2019, Hunter quickly signed up.
"I have two brothers, one that's 16 and one that's 20 and both were Eagle Scouts and I watched them really go through their journey and it made me want to go after it myself," she said.
The 13-year-old who attends Thoreau Middle School in Vienna wanted to achieve the highest rank in Scouts BSA and was willing to put in the work.
"For my Eagle project, I ended up building 37 garden boxes here at Bailey's Elementary School in Falls Church. I had two parts to my project; one was building the boxes and one was putting them in here," she said.
Hunter also earned 26 merit badges and served as a senior patrol leader for her troop. To reach the Eagle rank, a scout must earn at least 21 merit badges, serve in positions of leadership in the troop, and complete an extensive service project that the scout plans, organizes, leads, and manages.
Those efforts demonstrated hard work and leadership, enough to make her worthy of Scouts BSA's highest honor.
"It's really amazing. I'm so excited. I really wanted this for such a long time and it really means a lot to girls my age across America that they can do it," she said.
"With over 285 total hours of effort from the community over three days of work, she led a team of 50 Scouts and adults to beautify the Bailey's campus by installing 36 planter boxes for the science department on the school grounds," a school news release stated. "She plans to complete a trek at the Philmont Scout Ranch, Scouting BSA's premiere high adventure base. Ultimately, she hopes to become a teacher like her mom."
