Mother-daughter duo blaze the trail for female Eagle Scouts

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    GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. (Gwinnett Daily Post) — For the 110 years that Boy Scouts of America has been around, it wasn’t until Feb. 1, 2019 that girls such as Suwanee resident Lena Towne could work toward and earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

At 15 years old, she had been doing many of the same activities growing up as her big brother, Jack. She went to activities such as campouts with him when he was a Cub Scout, and even helped him complete his Eagle project later on. But she never earned credit or badges for her work.

Lena Towne is now one of the first female Eagle Scouts in the country after her mother, Kim Towne, helped found Scouts BSA Troop 5109 last year, an all-female troop chartered to Buford Presbyterian Church. The troop is made up of 21 girls, four of whom are currently working on Eagle Scout projects. Kim Towne said its membership has doubled since it was started.

“Probably one of my favorite parts about getting this far is getting to encourage all the other Scouts and especially giving the younger girls and Cub Scouts someone to look up to,” Lena Towne said.

“It’s very important to me for them to have a role model or to have somebody who shows them these are things that we can do, because that’s something that’s been very important to me is seeing all these strong people around me, especially women, who are achieving such great things and doing such amazing things for me and for this troop. I’m just very happy that I get to be that someone for another girl.”

Scouting is a whole family activity for the Townes. Lena Towne, who is on the national advising board for BSA, joins both her brother and her grandfather as Eagle Scouts. Her father, Chris Towne, is also an Assistant Scoutmaster at Troop 5109 and Troop 608, and Kim Towne is the Committee Chair at Troop 5109.

Years ago, Kim Towne, who is also the events coordinator for the city of Suwanee, started Troop 608 after noticing there was no troop in Suwanee. She said it was a passion of hers to make sure Suwanee was represented as a city on the roster of troops.

So in late 2018, when BSA announced plans to allow all-girl troops to form nationwide, she was among the first to take action. The troop selected the number 5109 to represent 109 years of Scouting as of that date.

“My daughter lit up when she heard that,” Kim Towne said. “When your daughter looks at you and says, ‘Mom you’re so good at this. Can you please start a troop for my friends and I?’ I couldn’t say no.”

Lena Towne earned the rank of Eagle Scout on Oct. 24 after earning more than 25 merit badges, holding multiple leadership roles, and leading a large-scale project to renovate the Sunday School room at her home church, Epiphany Lutheran. Her Eagle project included painting a mural, crafting several furniture pieces, and adding storage and seating to the room.

“Painting the mural and then seeing the final installation of all of the pieces of hand-built furniture were the most rewarding parts of my project,” Lena Towne said, regarding her Eagle project that required over 230 hours and two dozen volunteers to complete. “These rooms are used for the activities of three Scout troops, as well as Sunday school; it makes me proud that many people will enjoy and benefit from our hard work.”

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