Illustration of a scouting badge that says 7%

Tabi Walters

In 2019, twelve-year-old Maddie Lowen found herself at a remote campsite in Waterloo, Michigan, figuring out how to make chicken noodle soup in below-zero temperatures with four girls she’d met a week before. 

This experience might have deterred the typical tween from continuing the Scout program, but not Lowen and the other girls of Ann Arbor’s BSA Scout Troop 5. All five have either earned their Eagle Scout rank or will do so by the end of 2026—a notable accomplishment, given that nationwide only around 7 percent of scouts earn this honor. 

In 2018, Boy Scouts of America began allowing girls to participate; Lowen, Aaralyn Huhn, Neila Shee, Anna Stenger, and Juno Ryan formed the inaugural girls troop.

Related: Boy Scout Girls (Mar. 2019)

“The reason why we’ve all Eagled, is because that core relationship that we made is just so strong,” says Lowen, who is now a rising sophomore at U-M.

Eagle Scout is the highest youth ranking in Scouting BSA; it usually takes between five to seven years and represents the culmination of merit badges, scout-led service projects, and a final presentation delivered to a community review board. 

“There was this kind of built-up demand for girls who knew about it,” says Troop 5 Committee Chairman Paul Reed. “This first group that came in was highly motivated.”

“I also think that there’s something particularly special about being the kind of girl that wants to join a group of guys,” Lowen says. “You definitely need to have a certain level of commitment and grit.” 

Lowen says that in college, she’s applying the lessons she learned from her
accomplishments in Scouts to her extracurriculars, including serving as an Air Force cadet at the ROTC unit. 

“It really taught me that I’m capable of doing really hard things,” she says. “…Scouts is foundational for how I define my leadership style and the kind of person I want to be in the world.” 

As an organization, Lowen says, BSA has become more accepting since she joined. When visiting other camps across the country, Troop 5 was often the only program with female scouts. Today, Scout Troop 5 boasts around twenty-three female scouts, and all-female troops have formed in Dexter, Ypsilanti, and Saline.