When I first joined the Boy Scouts of America at 13 and a half, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In 2018, the 109-year-old organization announced it would open its doors to girls and, in 2025, change its name from “Boy Scouts” to “Scouting America.” The national reaction was mixed, ranging from outrage in right-wing circles to support from more progressive communities.
In Santa Cruz, many families like mine leaped with excitement. Now, young girls have the same opportunities as boys to achieve their goals and gain valuable life skills. In 2014, I moved from the East Coast to Santa Cruz—my family—originally from New Jersey—always loved camping. We owned a pop-up camper and drove our old Ford Explorer up and down the Eastern Seaboard, visiting Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and more. The outdoors was always a big part of my life. My older brother, five years my senior, joined Cub Scouts and later transitioned to Boy Scouts. He and my dad took trips with his troop in Pennsylvania and California, backpacking, camping, and hiking.
Eventually, my brother earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout. While living in Pennsylvania, I joined my local Girl Scout troop. Girl Scouts is a completely different organization from Scouting America. I’m not here to criticize Girl Scouts—I know many scouts who have participated in both programs and loved them. Girl Scouts has provided countless girls with amazing experiences. For me, though, my short stint in Girl Scouts lacked adventure and purpose. While my brother and his friends were backpacking and getting their hands dirty, I was limited to arts and crafts. I craved more: I wanted to pitch a tent, start a campfire, and truly experience the outdoors.
In 2019, my opportunity finally arrived. A father from Scotts Valley reached out to my dad with an idea: Why not start an all-girls troop in Scouting America? Calling my dad excited would be an understatement. After guiding my brother to the rank of Eagle Scout, he was thrilled to help me pursue the same achievement. With paperwork filed at the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council, Troop 673 was born.
When a troop is formed, members choose a meeting place—maybe a church, community center, or library. We hadn’t found a permanent spot, so we gathered every Monday at our scoutmaster Charlie’s house. There were just eight of us at the start, forming the foundation of our troop. We named ourselves the Mockingjays, inspired by The Hunger Games, and designed our own blue Mockingjay patrol patch. We also began planning our very first outing. Our first trip to Big Sur was a whirlwind. It was the first time I learned how to set up a tent—one I have continued to use despite its bag falling apart and tearing. It’s a good tent, having withstood snowstorms and violent Sierra Nevada thunderstorms.
The troop gathered around the crackling campfire, where we held our very first troop election. These democratic elections are usually held semiannually and allow multiple scouts to be elected to leadership positions, such as Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Chaplain’s Aide, and others. I was elected to both Assistant Senior Patrol Leader and Chaplain’s Aide because our scoutmaster and the senior patrol leader recognized my young, ambitious leadership qualities. I was chosen to be a Chaplain’s Aide because I had brought a tiny Buddha statue for the trip. At the time, my dad had been visiting the Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel for quite some time, and I had accompanied him to meditation classes. I was very attached to my Buddha statue, bringing it on multiple backpacking trips and using it as a charm for safety and luck.
Although I hadn’t grown up in a religious household, my parents instilled a strong moral code in my brother and me. I read the children’s Bible, but we never attended a specific church. We lived by the Scout Oath and Law, the code all scouts recite at every scout meeting, court of honor, and any scouting event that includes it. The Oath: “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” The Law: A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
After our first few trips through early 2019, it was time for a scout’s most exciting trip: summer camp. Camp Chawanakee on Shaver Lake was chosen as our first summer camp. Before the destructive 2020 Creek Fire, which destroyed much of the surrounding Sierra National Forest, Camp Chawanakee sat in some of the most beautiful forest and lake country I had ever seen. I had only been to Yosemite and Lassen National Park and had not yet experienced the Sierra Nevada. To get there, the scouts piled into a few parental cars and drove through the Central Valley, past Fresno, and into the windy foothills.
Then the brown, dry grass slowly gave way to picturesque, serene ponderosa pines, incense cedar, and white fir trees. We passed by beautiful green mountain meadows before arriving at the camp. Chawanakee spans 400 acres, has 23 designated campsites with fire rings, and can accommodate around 500 scouts weekly. Troop 673 was incredibly lucky to be assigned a lake-facing campsite. Every evening, we got to watch the beautiful sunset and wake up to the peaceful sounds of boats and jet skis from lake-goers. The camp had a gorgeous waterfront, a rock-climbing tower, a tall dining hall, a campfire bowl, and a trading post where scouts and adults could purchase everything from camp merch and snacks to the now-deceased Klondike Choco Tacos.
I was in awe at every sight. The flag meadow was beside the huge climbing tower and surrounded by beautiful pine trees. You couldn’t help but look straight up as the morning flags were raised. As our week went on, we noticed that we were among the few all-girl troops attending. This was likely because girls had only recently been allowed to join scouting. Throughout the week, we began to feel sidelined, ignored, and sometimes discriminated against. At the end of the week, everyone in camp went on an overnight adventure: you and two other scouts would canoe across the lake and sleep on a nearby island beach—without a tent, of course.
I was already nervous about sleeping under the stars, and seeing a huge crowd of teenage boys screaming and shouting as our canoes approached made me even more anxious. As T673 landed on the island, I quickly realized we may not have been as welcome as I had thought. The group of boys was large, and they wanted us off their turf, shouting and arguing as we tried to find space. Fed up with the treatment, Charlie guided our troop away from the chaos, and we found a small, quieter space where another troop allowed us to share. We set up our sleeping bags and soon fell asleep to the sound of an owl hooting in the distance. This was one of the first instances of sexism I remember experiencing.
We haven’t gone to Chawanakee since. The pandemic disrupted everyone’s lives in Santa Cruz and around the world. Everything from sports teams to scouting was put on pause. Zoom became the new meeting place for everyone, including T673. I struggled through the end of 8th grade and the beginning of my first year of high school. But that summer quickly became one of the most memorable and adventure-filled summers I could ever remember. Since most scout camps were closed due to the pandemic, T673 got creative. We made our own summer camp of sorts, heading up to Lassen Volcanic National Park and camping on Butte Lake near the Cinder Cone.
We paddle boarded, earned merit badges, climbed volcanoes, and hiked the surrounding areas. Earlier in June, 673 went on a huge backpacking trip. Hiking around Florence Lake and learning that walking five miles in Santa Cruz was incredibly different than hiking five miles in the Sierras. It was on that trip that our scoutmaster, Charlie, coined an iconic sentence that would forever be remembered: “It’s just around the next bend.” Anytime one of us would ask, “How much further?”, he would reply with this. Even though I have countless stories to tell, I can’t possibly include every single one in this story. Scouting gave me an amazing opportunity to discover myself and grow. I made mistakes, yes, but I learned from them and became a better person.
On June 1st, 2023, I earned the rank of Eagle Scout. I’ll admit, there were times in my journey where I thought I’d never become an Eagle Scout. I was notorious for comparing myself to others, including my older brother. But my parents were there for me. My dad cheered me on as I sold popcorn to raise money for our troop. He cheered me on through every single rank, and he went on countless trips. We formed so many good memories as a family, and I’m so thankful for my first scoutmaster, Charlie, for being an amazing scoutmaster. I can’t wait to keep writing stories about scouting, and I hope to inspire young girls to become leaders in their communities. No matter how many times politicians say that girls can’t do something, there are girls who rise and uplift those around them.
By Sadie Maher
