Local Boy Scouts troop has no boys
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - In February, the Boy Scouts of America officially began admitting girls as Scouts, a first for the century-old organization.
When a group in Bannock County heard the news, they took the necessary steps to become Scouts. Now Troop 363, a group of about 10 girls, and only girls, is one of the first of its kind.
Scoutmaster Barry Hulet has been involved in scouting for more than 20 years, but he’s never had a troop quite like the one he’s in charge of now.
"It's the first all-girl troop that we’ve had," Hulet said.
For his scouts, the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of siblings and parents was too good to pass up.
"I was always kind of jealous of the things that they were doing with them and I always felt like, 'I want to do this,'" Elise Whitworth, the troop's SPL (senior patrol leader), said. "So when I got the chance to, I was definitely like 'I'm gonna do this.'"
The feeling was shared by asst. SPL Savanah Perry.
"When opportunities started coming up that I could be in Scouting, I always wanted to be part of it cause I’ve always been super adventurous," she explained.
Both Perry and Whitworth had worked at Boy Scouts camp, just as Barry and Marjanna Hulet's daughter had.
"And [she] would say, 'This is silly, I’m teaching boys merit badges that I can’t earn. They won't let me earn this merit badge, this is just silly,'" Marjanna said. "My daughter would have loved to have been in a girl troop."
While Hulet's daughter is now out of the participating age range, Perry, Whitworth and the rest of their troop are sable to make their own mark.
"It's kind of crazy to think about the people that haven't had this opportunity, and thinking about that makes me want to share it even more because we’ve grown so much and we’ve had so many opportunities that I want other people to experience too," Perry said.
According to their scoutmaster, the all-girls troop is getting his normal experience.
"We're doing the same stuff," Barry said, "it's just a different batch of kids."
Troop 363 is chartered out of the Pocatello Community Charter School. If you are interested in joining, you can contact Marjanna at hulemarj@isu.edu.
