Girls join Boy Scouts of America Cub Scout program in York County

Dallastown’s Memorial Day Parade began like it did in many small towns across America this year.

Lawn chairs unfolded at the curb as neighbors chatted. A school band warmed up on a side street. And Scouts gathered at the beginning of the parade route. But unlike other years, the Cub Scouts included girls.

Four Cub Scout packs in York County are part of an “early adopter program” that is testing the integration of girls fully into the Boy Scouts of America.

Pack 43 in Dallastown is one, and the other packs are in Manchester Township, West York and York city.

“We had girls that were interested, and I just thought it was a good thing for cub scouting in general, because what we do is family based anyway so it is just natural to include the girls,” Cubmaster of Pack 43 leader Steve Owens said.

“The past few years, we had a lot of girls involved, but they just never got the rank or credit for stuff (they did) with the boys,” he said

Currently, there are 31 Cub Scout packs in the county, according to Ronald M. Gardner, Jr. He is the Scout executive & CEO of the New Birth of Freedom Council for the Boy Scouts of America, which is the organizing group in six Central Pennsylvania counties. Cub Scouting is for youths 7 to 10 years of age.

“This is a transformational change for us,” Gardner said of the addition of girls to scouting.

The choice to become early adopters was entirely up to each pack and grew out of members asking for the change, he said. For these packs, the Cub Scouts have often become a family activity engaging sisters and brothers in Scout activities and challenges, but the girls have been left out of rank and credit for accomplishments.

How it works

Gardner said that the process for change isn’t as simple as adding girls to the existing program.

Some packs will remain single gender, while some will become co-ed. A pack is broken down into dens, which are small numbers of children who meet and learn together more often than in the larger Scout packs. There will be separate dens for girls and boys, and three types of cub packs: all boy, family (made of separate dens of boys and girls), and all girl.

So on a smaller scale, the genders will gather separately. For the packs that go co-ed, boys and girls will join for some of the larger events and activities.

In February 2019, when some of the early adopter female Cub Scouts start becoming old enough to become Boy Scouts, the national organization will begin offering programs for girls ages 11 to 18 and adopt the name Scouts BSA. Gardner emphasized that at this age there will be separate Boy Scout troops for girls and boys. He anticipates that there will be activities where boy and girl troops participate together.

Even as the genders will be separated, “the curriculum is identical, the same for girls and boys, the requirements are the same,” Gardner said in Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA. Girls will be able to become Eagle Scouts, the highest rank.

Charter organizations — often a church — that traditionally sponsored Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout Troops, could sponsor both a boy and girl Scout BSA Troop in order to share meeting places and other resources in a community.

Gardner said that Boy Scouts of America Venturing, an active, outdoor-based program for ages 14 to 21, has incorporated both genders for the past 20 years.

As for the newest change, it wasn’t as easy as tying on a neckerchief for girls to become Cub Scouts. Normally, a Cub has a school year to complete material for advancement. A requirement set by BSA for the early adopter packs was to complete a school year’s worth of material during the early part of 2018 so that they could advance at the same time as their male counterparts, Gardner said.

At this year’s Dallastown Memorial Day Parade, Cub Scout Stella Millek, 10, was handing out flags. She received her Webelo badge June 4 and is working toward her Arrow of Light.

“I like going outdoors, and I think Cub Scouts will fit me well,” she said. “We hiked and learned about emergencies.”

Testing the waters

The early adopter program “means we are testing the waters and sending reports back to the BSA. Come September, any pack can do it,” Cubmaster Owens said.

The biggest challenges of incorporating girls into the formal recognition of his pack is the “social acceptance of it, and the perception of families within the pack,” he said.

Not everyone sees the change as a good evolution for girls.

Amy Mountain, who represents Girl Scouts Heart of Pennsylvania, the organizing body in 30 Central Pennsylvania counties, said that, “the Boy Scout program feels like add-on programming that doesn’t meet girls’ unique and distinctive needs … The way they learn and explore is very different in a single-gender environment (as opposed to co-ed).”

Mountain defines the fourth through eighth grades as a “unique time for girls” and that the possibility exists for girls to become “intimidated, cowed (by boys) when exploring something new.”

Asked about outdoor programs, Mountain said that all Girl Scouts have the opportunity for resident, day and weekend camping experiences with financial assistance at three campsites in Central Pennsylvania.

“I appreciate people have strong opinions,” she said. “I feel it will sort itself out based on what programming experience that girls and families want to experience.”

George Hay Kain III, who has been a Sea Scout skipper in the Manchester area for 18 years, said that his co-ed program “has worked well, and I have seen zero problems in my ship.”

Sea Scouts have been active for over 100 years promoting better citizenship and improved members’ boating skills through instruction and practice in water safety, boating skills, outdoor, social, service experiences, and knowledge of maritime heritage. Sea Scouts, B.S.A is part of Boy Scouts of America, and has been co-ed since 1971 according to Kain.

“Admittedly, we are working with older youth (13 ½ to 21 years). At the same time, one can argue that they are more mature, they are also more at risk for inappropriate sexual behavior,” he said.

“Our ship has a good PDA (Public Display of Affection policy), and it has done the job well. The boys and girls in my ship behave like brothers and sisters and watch out for each other. If anyone disrespected any of our girls, the boys would see the offender pay a steep price.”

Proud of their children

At an open pavilion near the boat launch at Lake Redman, Cub Pack 43 met recently for a year-end celebration where families gathered for a potluck dinner and presentation of badges rewarding the Scouts for their year of work.

Five girls were among the cubs holding out cupped hands receiving badges for their accomplishments.  Fathers and mothers tied fresh neckerchiefs around the necks of their sons and daughters, part of the ceremony as the Cubs attain the next rank.

Donna Henz tied a plaid neckerchief on her 9-year-old daughter, Irma, saying,  “I’m so proud of my little Webelo girl.” Irma received her Bear Badge and will be working toward her Webelo Badge.  Webelos are the transition between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.

Henz said that Irma has two brothers who are Boy Scouts, as do other families in the pack, and the girls “already do everything with Boy Scouts in their scouting program.” Irma went to Cub Scout camp this past year, traveling to Delaware with her family, and participated in all the activities.

“They have been able to participate, but not truly advance until now, so that is quite impressive,” Henz said.

By the numbers

As of June 2018, in York County there are:

• 31 Cub Scout packs, with 892 youth members with 578 adult leaders  
• 37 Boy Scout troops, with 804 youth members and 577 adult leaders  
• One Sea Scout ship with 16 youths, 13 adult leaders
• Two Venturing crews, with 24 youths, 17 adult leaders  
• and 1,736 total youths, 1,185 total adults. 

 

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.