Do you like camping and hiking? How about tying knots and making fire? Then you would like Scouts. Scouts is a great place to have fun, learn new skills you couldn’t learn in school, and be outdoors.

Cub Scout Pack 444 is looking to make a Girl Troop by this spring. Unfortunately, they do not have enough girls wanting to continue. Currently, there are only two girls. To continue into Scouts, they need at least four girls, but to make it an actual troop, they need five to six girls. Some fun things you can do in Scouts are cooking, hiking, tying knots, doing friendly competitions, summer camps, camporees, and lots of other things. 

“…Scouts is a valuable program, no matter gender, and should be available to all youth,” Mr. Bill Deal, Troop 444 Scoutmaster, and Director of Teaching and Learning, said. Deal’s favorite part of Scouts is the outdoors and camping.

 Unless we get more girls that want to participate, the girls in lower ranks as well as the girls that want to continue won’t be able to do the fun things that you can do in Scouts but not in Cub Scouts.

“ I like meeting new friends and all the fun activities you do earning badges,” Izzy Brien, a fifth grader and one of the girls wanting to cross over into Scouts said. Brien also wants to continue to earn her Eagle scout.

Most people that are currently in Scouts started as a Tiger. This is for first graders. That is the first rank, followed by Wolf, for the second grade, Bear, for the third graders, Webelos for the fourth graders, (Stands for We Be Loyal Scouts) and Arrow of Light (AOL) for fifth graders. As of the last three years, they have also added in another rank before Tiger called Lion. This is for the kindergarteners. 

Currently, Pack 444 has three girl Arrow of Light Scouts. After Arrow of Light, you cross over into Scouts. In Scouts, there are seven ranks. It starts with Scout, then goes to Tenderfoot, Second class, First class, Star, Life, and Eagle. Unlike Cub Scouts, in Scouts, you go at your own pace and earn rank by doing requirements. It is for any specific grades. For example, there could be an 8th grader who is only a scout. 

Throughout going up in rank, scouts can earn various badges such as Environmental Science or the whittling chip in Cub Scouts. As well as badges, scouts have the chance to help out in the community by doing service projects to rank up. It helps the community but also allows you to have a bit of fun doing it. Just recently, a handful of scouts helped out at Hosanna Industries to make them a better garden for their non-profit organization.