Petaluma girls join Boy Scouts

The all-girls troop is among the first female Boys Scouts.|

For decades young girls in Petaluma have sat idly by as their brothers and other boys in the community were being applauded for skills demonstrated in nature, the ability to tie knots or their observance of a renowned code of virtues.

That was part of the allure of being a Boy Scout. But over time, conversations between parents at local scout meetings slowly went from “what if” to “when” as the effort to include girls slowly gained momentum.

Well, that “when” has finally arrived.

On Jan. 30, Jennifer Masterson filed the necessary paperwork to form BSA Troop 848, Petaluma’s first-ever all girls Boy Scout troop, and one of the inaugural three recently launched in Sonoma County. Thanks to a growing movement to make the Boy Scouts of America more inclusive, on the first day of February, all-girl troops were activated nationwide as new members poured into the coveted ranks of the 109-year-old youth organization.

“They really wanted to get out there and have a good time,” said Masterson, Troop 848’s scoutmaster and a local volunteer leader for more than two decades. “They wanted to do things that the Boy Scouts have been doing for years.”

With five registered members and more likely on the way, the newly-formed group has been meeting once a week at Petaluma Church of Christ, charting out an adventure-filled calendar and learning the same fundamentals Boy Scouts have been imparting in young men for over a century.

Recently they’ve been mastering knife and hatchet techniques, and the necessary skills required to be successful when camping in the snow. This weekend they’ll put that knowledge into practice at Camp Chawanakee in Shaver Lake.

Next the girls will test their stargazing skills at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in March, spending time in the Mayacamas Mountains, and are also eying a 10-day trek through Montana in the summer.

“The program is the exact same,” Masterson said. “The skills, the first aid, the knot tying; the outdoor skills for hiking and camping are the exact same. That’s what the girls wanted to do, but something different than what other youth programs are offering them.”

Pastor George Robertson, who leads the Church of Christ congregation, was another driving force behind Troop 848.

As a former Eagle Scout and a father of five daughters, he was struggling to identify a youth development program for girls that would mirror the kind of experiences that he had growing up.

When talks about coed Boy Scouts suddenly became legitimate, Robertson thought it’d be “a great fit” to charter a new troop.

“I know there’s a lot of youth development organizations, and my own personal history, it’s neat to see my daughters follow in my footsteps,” he said. “Learning and experiencing things in nature and to be able to learn how to be a leader, how to organize things and get that skill set, to me it’s been really exciting to see my girls do these things that I know so well.”

While momentum played a role in the milestone, it wasn’t achieved without controversy.

The Girl Scouts of U.S.A. filed a federal trademark lawsuit in November after the Boy Scouts of America had announced earlier in the year that it would be dropping “boy” from its namesake, rebranding simply as “Scouts.”

Executive members of the Girl Scouts accused the Boy Scouts in 2017 of a “covert campaign to recruit girls,” and president Kathy Hopinkah Hannan formally requested BSA remained an all-boys organization.

While leadership teams were busy jostling for recruits, Cub Scouts welcomed girls last summer and hinted that an expansion to Boy Scouts would likely follow.

Since the announcement of coed Cub Scouts, thousands of girls have signed up nationwide, according to reports, and a similar wave is expected with the door now open for daughters between 11 and 17 years old.

“For the most part it’s been a warm reception, but of course that’s the people I surround myself with,” Masterson said.

“I’m sure there are folks out there that maybe don’t want to see it happen,” Masterson added. “When I was growing up I was envious, and was a tomboy at heart … so it’s nice to see young ladies have this opportunity to enjoying scouting.”

(Contact News Editor Yousef Baig at yousef.baig@arguscourier.com or 776-8461, and on Twitter @YousefBaig.)

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