By Emma Wulfhorst
COLTS NECK – On a warm Wednesday evening in late June, members of Boy Scout Troop 290 gathered at the picnic pavilion at Bucks Mill Recreation Area to set up for their 2019 Court of Honor and BBQ. This year there were five new Scouts in the troop and one thing made them unique: Grace Hager, Caitlin Strafaci, Amanda Clifton, Eva Difoglio and Nina Clifton are all girls.
Boy Scouts of America (BSA) began admitting girls to its 11-to-17-year-old program in February 2019, changing its name to Scouts BSA in the process. Cub Scouts, BSA’s program for younger kids, began welcoming girls in 2018, and more than 77,000 girls have become Cub Scouts since then.
This decision thrilled the new members of Troop 290, many of whom have family members already involved in Scouts. “When my brother joined Cub Scouts and I saw what he was doing, I was like ‘I want to do that,’” said Caitlin. Eva said she “wanted something that I actually enjoyed.”
The girls are also looking forward to earning the rank of Eagle Scout, a goal all of them are currently pursuing. “Eagle Scout is like an iconic thing, so if you say ‘I’m an Eagle Scout,’ people are automatically going to know what you’re talking about,” said Caitlin.
Becoming an Eagle Scout has many requirements, including earning a total of 21 merit badges in categories such as first aid, citizenship in the community, communication, cooking, personal fitness and more. Scouts are also required to plan, develop and give leadership to others through a service project which has to benefit the environment, a person, or a group.
Typically, Scouts have until the day before they turn 18 to complete the requirements for Eagle Scout, giving most members six years to get everything done. But for the girls of Troop 290, all of whom are already in their teens, time is running out.
Amanda isn’t worried, though, because she has a plan. “It’s something that I find that you can manage on a schedule and as long as you don’t deviate from the schedule, it is possible,” she said. Grace also feels prepared and said, “I thought it was a lot, but I asked my brother, and he said it’s just easier if you break it down into pieces and work at it bit by bit.”
Even though these five girls are officially part of Troop 290, they have their own group within it, Troop 290A; the boys are Troop 290B. Troop 290A is only the second female troop to be formed in New Jersey. They were created in March and are run by Maria Hager and Michelle Clifton, both assis- tant scoutmasters and both mothers to two of the new Scouts. Michelle’s husband, Trony Clifton, is Troop 290’s scoutmaster.
All five members of the troop were in Girl Scouts before joining Scouts BSA, but felt they weren’t getting what they wanted out of it. “Girl Scouts wasn’t teaching me what I wanted to learn,” Caitlin said. “I’d rather learn how to cook when I need it most, like when I’m out camping and I’d like to know how to tie knots and that kind of stuff, instead of learning how to sit.”
Being a new all-girl troop isn’t without it’s growing pains. Some of the girls were concerned about being accepted. “The boys’ troop is already so established and we were brand new, and I always thought that the guys and leaders would look down on us as less, because we were new,” said Caitlin.
However, that isn’t the case. “When I first joined, I was like, well this is going to be weird with the boys and the girls,” she said. After two meetings she said “there’s nothing really different.”
For Nina, “it sometimes feels a tad stressful, to be honest, because everyone else knows what to do and I kind of feel I’m in the dark.”
But the girls of Troop 290A remain undaunted. “I just found it to be second nature,” said Amanda. “I didn’t even think about it as a boy or girl kind of thing, I just went into it as if it was a natural activity.”
Caitlin said she was ready to fight any opposition. “If they didn’t include me, I’d make them include me.”
Moving forward, the girls hope to gain more members and get the word out about their troop. Caitlin’s advice is to “make it public. Don’t let it be a secret. If there’s a poster that says, ‘Join BSA,’ it should have boys and girls on the poster.”
Grace hopes through being a member of Troop 290A she can, “clear a path for more girls to see that they’ll be able to do it.”
And Caitlin has some advice for all future Scouts: “Never let anybody tell you you can’t do it.”
