An Oakdale high school Junior Ashlyn Cooper earned the highest rank in Scouts BSA-the Eagle Scout in less than two years.

 In February 2019 Boy Scouts of America became the parent organization of Scouts BSA, allowing girls into the activities that used to only be available for boys. At that time Cooper wanted to get involved immediately. 

One very important action towards getting the Eagle Scout rank is the scout must conduct a service project that benefits either local schools, communities, or religious institutions. 

Cooper commented, “My Eagle project took the combined effort of myself and numerous volunteers around 196 hours to complete. The planning aspect of the project took the most time as I had to design storage units from scratch, and figure out how they were going to be assembled.” 

It took Cooper less than two years to complete all the ranks in scouts.  Her parents, Jim and Susie Martin-Cooper, commented “We are very proud of all the hard work and dedication she put into it.” 

The road to Eagle Scout is a very long journey including many different ranks and important roles you need to play. Cooper remarked, “You had to work your way up the various ranks in scouts BSA in order to become an eagle scout.” (which is the highest rank)

 Eagle rank requires many different criteria to be earned including, being active in a troop for at least six months, earn twenty-one merit badges, and as a life scout (the rank before eagle) serve actively in a leadership role. 

Cooper commented, “My Eagle project took the combined effort of myself and numerous volunteers around 196 hours to complete. The planning aspect of the project took the most time as I had to design storage units from scratch, and figure out how they were going to be assembled.” 

Cooper faced a hard obstacle at the end of her journey to becoming an eagle scout with the uprising of covid-19 causing reductions in meetings and making her eagle project harder to manage. She was able to complete the project by putting the volunteers on two hour shifts between each other and 1 hour breaks to sanitize. 

Not only has she earned eagle scout she plans to get even more merit badges, and even finish out girls scouts to get the gold award,which is the equivalent of the eagle scout award.

 As one of the first girls to earn eagle scouts she will be able to influence other girls to do the same. Cooper states, “I am happy that I got the opportunity to learn, and grow from being able to earn Eagle as one of the first female eagle scouts in Scouts BSA.”