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Hanging out with the first all-girl Boy Scout troop in Rochester

This February, Boy Scouts of America made a major change and started allowing girls to join the club. And while some young girls flocked to meetings with dreams of hiking and shooting guns, Girl Scouts of America thinks there is some misinformation about what being a member of their club really means.

Troop 2019 in Fairport is the first all-girl Scout BSA troop to register with the Seneca Waterways Council, the group that oversees Scouts in Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, and Monroe counties.

The beginning of their meeting is sweet. As the girls try to get it started, adult troop leaders are whispering the next steps to them as they run through the Pledge of Allegiance, recite the Scout laws, and hold a brief flag ceremony.

They need a little help, only because Troop 2019 has existed for just a few weeks. It wasn’t until February of this year that girls were allowed to join Boy Scouts, or what is now called Scouts BSA.

Evelyn is 13 years old and said one of the things that drew her to Scouts BSA was shooting guns.

“When I went to Girl Scout Camporee, they had laser guns that you could shoot, but you weren’t even allowed to do that until you were 13," Evelyn said. "And when I went to Boy Scout Camporee, I shot a rifle when I was 12. And that stuck out to me.”

Actually, a couple of the girls mentioned wanting to learn to shoot when I asked them why they were here.

Evelyn also watched her older brother go through Boy Scouts. She said whatever the boys can do, she wants to do, too.

“I’m really into like women empowerment and like, equality between a male and a female," she said. "And when my brother gets to do stuff that I want to do that I can’t, it really frustrates me. And so I want to be able to do everything he can do, so that’s why I joined.”

Most of the 16 girls in this troop had older brothers who were Boy Scouts. They saw the field trips and activities the boys got to do and wanted the same experiences.

That’s why 13-year-old Eleanor Cerami is here. She went to some Boy Scouts summer camps with her brother and made her own car for the Pinewood Derby.

“I love to be outside and just like doing active stuff," Eleanor said. "And I think it’s just great that they’re letting girls in now. Even though it’s taken this long, it’s still really nice.”

She said most of her friends and family don’t like hiking and being outdoors as much as she does, but here, she can be around other girls with similar interests. She’s passionate about challenging the stereotypes of what girls can and can’t do.

“We read a short story in school called ‘The Dinner Party.’ And it said that girls are screaming and jumping on a chair when they see a mouse. That’s not how we are,” she said.

Girls who join Scouts BSA are still in all-girl troops; they don’t mix up the genders in the United States, although co-ed troops exist overseas and in Canada. Scouts BSA said it keeps the separation here because girls and boys learn differently.

Trisch Axsmith-Tavolette, the Scoutmaster of the Fairport troop, has also led a Cub Scout troop of boys. She supports the separation policy.

“You see the differences," Axsmith-Tavolette said. "Boys and girls are blended together in school, a lot of extracurricular activities. This is one where a girl or a boy in their own unit can thrive among children of the same gender.”

This is the idea that Girl Scouts of America sticks to as well. They haven’t been too excited about the Scouts BSA changes. And they said their stance has a lot to do with how people perceive Girl Scouts. They say too many people – like most of the girls at the earlier troop meeting, for example – think the Girl Scouts program isn’t very outdoorsy.

“One thing that some of our members have said is that they feel that it’s saying our program is ‘less than,’ " said Alison Wilcox, CEO of Girl Scouts of Western New York. "That that’s just reflecting society values about women’s and girls programming. So it’s become really important that we keep telling our story.”

Wilcox said Girl Scouts also offers plenty of adventure options to members, including camping, whitewater rafting and hiking.

She also said there are differences in how the groups’ highest ranks are regarded. People tend to know about the Eagle Scout rank. But the Girl Scout equivalent, the Gold Award, isn’t as well-known.

“Part of the name recognition is that girls and women are not socialized to really go out there and say all of their accomplishments, so it’s often downplayed," Wilcox said. "So girls are taking on these high-level award projects and then not telling the story about what they achieved, whereas the Eagle Scout is something that most people have heard about because men have been talking about earning their Eagle Scout for so long.”

So, could the future of Girl Scouts / Boy Scouts / Scouts BSA ever be just a genderless organization of skill-building troops? Scoutmaster Axsmith-Tavolette said it’s too soon to say, but said it's a great first step. Wilcox said it’s best to keep a space that’s by girls, and for girls.

But at least for now, young women who don’t see Girl Scouts as a good fit have another place to go.