The shift to allow girls in scouting and cub scouting came about, in part, because of girls like Gabriela who were attending events with their brothers and wanted to be recognized for participating, said Rick Petersen, cubmaster with Pack No. 508.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a surprise for some folks, but for those who are actively involved, we knew it was coming down the pipeline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Not that the change hasn\u2019t triggered a strong reaction, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt evokes strong feelings, the whole subject of girls in scouting. I have very strong feelings in a positive way. There are some folks who have some very strong feelings in a negative way, and I respect that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But for Petersen, allowing girls in scouting is a matter of providing young women an equal opportunity to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, something that opened doors for him.<\/p>\n The rank will carry the same prestige into the future because Scouts BSA has not changed its requirements with the introduction of girls, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no scouting and scouting-lite,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In the two months since her troop formed, Gabriela said she has learned about knots and how to use knives, axes and hatchets. She is looking forward to earning lots of different merit badges, particularly one about pets.<\/p>\n Gabriela\u2019s Troop No. 537 is one of three troops in the area that has formed for girls. Even though Scouts BSA is open to girls, the troops are still gender-specific. One troop for girls has also formed in Cortez and another in Farmington.<\/p>\n Gabriela\u2019s troop meets at the same time and place as her brother\u2019s troop, and the two troops go on trips together, said Lisa Ferrell, Gabriela\u2019s mom. The two troops also share an adult leadership committee.<\/p>\n The boys and girls separate when the troops are working on skills and activities, Ferrell said.<\/p>\n There was some concern on the local level that girls might change the flavor of scouting and that they might find it too dirty or too scary. But that has not been the case, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to learn. They take it seriously, and they are just super fun to be with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Integrating the boys and girls also hasn\u2019t been a problem, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe boys in the troop, they don\u2019t even blink,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Troop No. 537 Scoutmaster Tina Hartley volunteered to lead the group even though she doesn\u2019t have a daughter involved, saying she saw the skills and leadership her son developed in scouts. She loves the idea of offering the same opportunity to girls, she said. Scouting helped her son\u2019s troop learn to plan backpacking trips and cook their own food, among other skills, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really teaches leadership,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich is the biggest thing that impressed me.\u201d<\/p>\n mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Troop No. 537\u2019s next meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 495 Florida Road. For more information, email Tina Hartley at tina7584@hotmail.com<\/a>. welcome young women to the troop<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5988,5794,5740,5737,5736,5735,5760],"tags":[5989,155,13,28,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-92136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clubs-and-association","category-education","category-frontpage-lead","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","category-outdoor-recreation","tag-clubs-and-association","tag-education","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92136"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=92136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}If you go<\/h4>\n
\n The next meeting of Cub Scout Pack No. 508 will be held at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Florida Grange, 656 Highway 172. For more information, email Pack508scoutsbsa@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"