Western Pennsylvania girls officially join the Boy Scouts

Sarah Lenhart has been a Boy Scout in all but name for a long time.

She started participating about eight years ago, when her older brother joined Boy Scout Troop 372 in Ligonier. She’s been part of the troop ever since.

“I honestly did more, I think, than my brother,” said Lenhart, now in the 12th grade.

Since girls couldn’t be Boy Scouts, her involvement was always unofficial.

Until now.

Lenhart is expecting to become one of the region’s first female Scouts. She’s one of four members of a proposed girls’ troop in Ligonier.

“I’m very honored to be one of the first,” she said. “We can make it whatever we want it to be.”

Boy Scouts of America opened its flagship program to girls Friday.

Though the organization will keep the name Boy Scouts of America, the program has been renamed Scouts BSA instead of Boy Scouts.

Girls and boys will be in separate troops, but the curriculum will be the same for both, according to Boy Scouts of America.

Girls will be able to participate in the same activities as boys, receive the same merit badges and earn the organization’s highest rank — Eagle Scouts.

At least 3 girls’ troops starting soon

At least three female troops are starting soon in Pittsburgh, McKeesport and Monroeville, according to Joe Lawrence, district chairman of Laurel Highlands Council of Boy Scouts of America’s Lackawanna District.

It’s not yet known how many girls will participate or how many female troops there will be, said Jim Douglas, assistant Scout executive for the Westmoreland-Fayette Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

“Right now we have zero, because today is the first day, but we have quite a few in the works,” he said.

The creation of female troops mostly will be a grassroots effort, driven by parents, scoutmasters and Scouts, Douglas said. Once the initial flurry of paperwork settles, it will be easier to gauge interest.

Douglas expects Westmoreland County’s first female troops will have their first official meetings within a week or two.

In Ligonier, the plan is to make a female troop that corresponds with the existing male Troop 372, said troop committee chair Dawn Lamuth-Higgins.

So far four girls have signed up, including Lenhart. The troop needs five before it can be officially chartered.

In the meantime, the four members have been meeting weekly, studying knife skills, knot tying, and Scout Law.

“They’re very enthusiastic, they’re learning their scout skills and doing everything that a brand-new scout would do,” Lamuth-Higgins said. “As soon as we have one more girl, we’ll create our group.”

Lyla Barr, a seventh-grader at Christ the Divine Teacher school in Latrobe, is one of the four female Scouts waiting to be officially chartered. She was a Girl Scout when she was younger.

“Once I heard that they were letting girls join Boy Scouts, that sounded even more interesting to me,” she said. “I love the idea of being one of the first female Boy Scouts.”

Boy Scouts of America has allowed girls in its Cub Scout program since last year.

Hyde Park mom likes change, but Harrison Scoutmaster questions separate troops

Peggy Dvorznak, one of the leaders of Boy Scout Troop 551 in Hyde Park, said she wishes girls had been allowed when she was raising her son and daughter.

“Personally, for me, it would have been good. I had a boy and a girl — and too many different activities,” Dvorznak said. “I’ve been talking around and it does definitely seem that there are girls who want to go into Boy Scouting and try all the neat things we do.”

Bob Barrage, scoutmaster of Troop 186 in Natrona Heights, Harrison, said the requirement for separate troops for girls might put a damper on enrollment.

“It would be easier if girls could just grab their moms and just join (an existing troop), he said. “I don’t know what kind of demand there’s going to be locally, and I won’t see it firsthand because I’m in a boy’s unit.”

The Boy Scouts of America has seen its membership decline in recent years. There were about 2.1 million combined Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts across the country in 2017, down about 9 percent from 2013.

Douglas said he knows plenty of girls that are excited to get involved, including his stepdaughter.

“Instead of just being an observer, she finally gets to do what her brothers do,” he said.

Tom Davidson is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tom at 724-487-7208, tdavidson@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TribDavidson.Jacob Tierney is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jacob at 724-836-6646, jtierney@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Soolseem.