Girls earn Eagle Scout honors

By Kay Wilson

Girls in Boys Scouts is a new concept to most of the world, but not so new around here. Two Maryville girls have been in scouts, both girls and boys, and as the climax to their scouting life have earned the top honor of Eagle Scout.

Elizabeth Stephenson and Adrianna Aley, both 19 years old, completed their Eagle Scout projects and earned 35 and 41 badges respectively in 23 months . Because of their age, they were able to fast-track the process of gaining their Eagle award.

Stephenson, who earned her girl scout gold award, decided to become a boy scout to spend more time with her dad and brother. Aley opted to become a boy scout to enjoy camping, especially with her dad.

Stephenson’s Eagle project was making improvements to the Nodaway County Fair Building’s community room. Besides lining up the obvious labor needed to handle the work, Stephenson also was in charge of raising the funds to allow the three-month project to occur.

“One of the biggest benefits I had with this was getting to spend more time with my grandpa and grandma, since they helped with the painting,” said Stephenson. “Plus I learned how to rehinge a door.”

Aley chose to take-on an extensive landscaping feat around the Maryville First United Methodist Church as her Eagle Scout project. She also was in charge of getting a labor force that worked for four weekends. The duties included taking out some rose bushes, filling several holes in the lawn and seeding them along with fertilizer and putting the ground fabric around the trees. The crew, supervised by Stephenson, planted two red bud trees, lots of green plants to line the sidewalks. Stephenson was cognizant to the contagious COVID-19 virus, so she staffed her work crews in small groups to only 15-20 each time. Dollars to fund the project were donated by individuals.

“This project was so rewarding to me with the planting of the trees,” noted Aley. “It was so great to see the project completed.”

She also noted the leadership skills she honed helped to keep the workers motivated and on-task.

These two girls have enjoyed other boy scouting firsts. They were the inaugural girls to be tapped into Camp Geiger’s Mic-O-Say. While the experience was challenging, once again, they both agreed it was good to be with their male family members and they also met new people.

Merit badge work has been another challenge because of the fast-track status of their joining boy scouts. They attended Merit Badge College which proved helpful with their earning of the 21 badges needed to become an Eagle Scout.

Both girls are working at Maryville Living Center to further their healthcare studies with North Central Missouri College through Maryville’s Northwest Technical School.

Two more girls, Joslin Ungles and Daylah Rybolt, from Troop 74G will have completed their Eagle Scout projects also.