Faces of the Valley: West Deer Scout boasts rare set of achievements

Fiona Lilly isn’t your average Girl Scout or Boy Scout: She’s both, and she has received the highest honors each organization offers.

Lilly, an 18-year-old West Deer resident and student at Chatham University, earned the coveted Gold Award for her work in October on a mural for Girl Scout Troop 55286 of Highland Park. She earned Eagle Scout status last year for work she completed on a trail for Boy Scout Troop 9945 of Morningside.

Her Eagle Scout status would not have been possible, she said, if the Boy Scouts of America hadn’t changed its name to Scouts BSA and opened its doors to girls in 2019.

“There’s very few people who have gotten the highest award in both (Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts),” said Lilly, who was homeschooled before college. “Eagle Scout is specifically for any Scouts in the Scouts’ BSA program, which now includes girls. So only girls technically can get both because the Girl Scouts have not allowed boys in their organization.”

While it is unclear how many Scouts have achieved both of the highest ranks, only a small percentage of Scouts achieve either rank to begin with.

Lilly received the Gold Award, the most prestigious award in Girl Scouts, for a 30-by-10-foot mural she and volunteers painted on the outside of a Scout cabin and shelter in North Park.

The project took a lot of planning and required approval by Allegheny County, but once the planning phase was finished and she obtained the supplies, the actual painting of the mural took about a week, she said.

Such a project is no easy feat. In addition to a list of prerequisites before being able to obtain the Gold Award, Scouts are required to identify an issue locally, form a team of volunteers and have the project approved by council.

The mural, also created with the help of the Latadomi Nature Center, depicts plants and animals native to the area, such as monarch butterflies, western honey bees and the Carolina springbeauty.

The goal was to create a sustainable, educational project. Along with the mural, Lilly also developed a website — fionarobinlilly.wixsite.com/scout-cabin-mural — with information about the native plants and animals, the park and Scouts.

Lilly’s Eagle Scout project further demonstrates her dedication to nature and preservation. She received the award last year for refurbishing a trail in Riverview Park.

The trail, which she described as “super eroded,” led down a hill, essentially creating a stream of trash, she said.

In response, she and other volunteers installed switchbacks and conducted a cleanup of the area. Although there are many steps leading to becoming an Eagle Scout, she said, the project itself is what earned her the distinction.

Lilly is the second female Eagle Scout in the Laurel Highlands Council, which covers Western Pennsylvania, Western Maryland and parts of West Virginia, making it one of the largest councils in the organization.

“She is definitely one of a kind, outstanding,” said Elizabeth Glowczewski, Lilly’s Girl Scout troop leader.

It was a challenge, as the rank must be achieved by the age of 18, so she had much less time than boys typically do to complete the work because Scouts BSA was not open to girls until 2019.

But Lilly isn’t the only one in her family with a history in Scouting; it runs in their blood.

Her father, Jeremy Viehland, is an Eagle Scout. As is his father, and his wife, Emily’s, father.

“We’re very proud of her, not only for achieving the ranks, but for her sticking to it, because it was a very long road, and I believe that she’s proud of herself,” Jeremy Viehland said.

But is wasn’t always easy when it came to girls being in Boy Scouts, Viehland said.

“It was not without some challenges,” he said. “There were at least two incidents that I recall while in uniform on a troop activity. Some of the female Scouts were harassed by someone driving by leaning out the window of the car.

“There was a feeling from the older generations that, I guess, tradition was more important than inclusivity. And we were glad when that changed.”

Still, girls have powered through the difficulties, and in cases such as Lilly’s, they put in an enormous amount of work, Emily Viehland said.

“The amount of work she put in was overwhelming,” said Emily Viehland, who is the Scoutmaster for Lilly’s Scouts BSA troop.

“It was so large, and she really wanted to achieve both (ranks). So we said, ‘OK, go for it.’ And when she finally finished the final day of painting on her Gold Award project, we were relieved.”

Lilly described her history in Girl Scouts and Scouts BSA as a result of her upbringing.

She and her family are avid campers, and that interest helped her get involved in Girl Scouts more than a decade ago.

“My family goes camping a lot,” Lilly said. “We moved here in 2008 or 2009, and I wanted to get involved with activities in the area. That was something I was interested in. So that’s when I joined the Girl Scouts. And when I heard that Boy Scouts we allowing girls in, I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, that’s really exciting because Boy Scouts do more camping than Girl Scouts on average.’ ”

When asked about the impact of her involvement in the Scouts’ programs over the years, she described it as a wholesome and educational experience.

“I think it definitely helped me with my communication and leadership,” Lilly said.

“It introduced me to a lot of friends and connections, and I’m able to network. It was also very educational to me in terms of conservation and basic life skills.

“I’ve also staffed a bunch of summer camps, so it created many jobs. Lots and lots of fun stuff. Lots of fun memories.”

Although still active in the organizations, Lilly also is a sophomore at Chatham University, where she is studying cell and molecular biology with the hopes of one day conducting medical research, specifically relating to hormones and pharmaceuticals.