By Dan Murphy
It has been four years since Scouts BSA, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, began accepting girls, ages 11-17, for membership into Scouts and elementary-aged girls into Cub Scouts. Over those four years, the COVID pandemic placed a major barrier into participation in scouting of all kinds.
But now that the challenges of the pandemic are over, local Westchester Scouts BSA troops are inviting girls to join, to serve their communities while learning about leadership, team participation, and citizenshipvalues. We spoke to Scarsdale Troop 4 Scoutmaster Ted Mazza about his effort to create a girls -troop-this fall.
“I wanted to create a place where anyone who wants to do scouting can participate. We are not the only way to learn about leadership and serving your community, but we are a way to do that,” said Mazza, who explained that other BSA Troops in Westchester have a girls-linked troop, including in Tuckahoe.
“The boys, as well as the adult volunteers, in the troop have been reaching out to the girls to see if there is any interest. We are going to start out small, with between 4-6 scouts, but we are hoping to attract as many interested girls as possible. We will be holding some upcoming events in September and October to attract interest,” said Mazza.
Currently Troop 4 has 24 boys and 3 girls. Four girls are needed to start a girls-linked troop and Mazza said an additional three girls have expressed interest recently. Girls and boys will participate together at our weekly Monday meetings. During those meetings, the scouts play games, work on merit badge advancement, and plan hikes, STEM activities, and community service. If they want to, the girls and boys can split out for some of the activities and games.
Mazza said that it’s a matter of time once the Girls-linked troop is established, that more girls will join. Once we have a troop with other girls, the word will get out through their friends and parents. This will be an opportunity for the first few girls to lead and mentor younger girls. Some girls are already in the cub scouts, or weeblows, so they are working their way up to becoming scouts.
We asked Mazza if there is any friendly competition between the Girls Scouts and BSA? “I’m not interestd in taking someone away from girl scouts-if someone wanted to do both we would accommodate them -we try to make it work.”
Any interested girl from Westchester is encouraged to join the troop. Girls in Troop 4 will design and lead their own activities. Additionally, they will participate in some events with the boys in the troop. Troop 4’s regular meetings are on Monday evenings. Troop 4 embodies the values of inclusion, tolerance, and mutual respect for all people.—tweak this graph—Westchester County is incredibly diverse in terms of socioeconomics, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Troop 4 wants Scouts to feel included in our activities and to learn to be accepting of others’ differences. Troop 4 wants to support scouts to be successful in their personal, academic, and civic goals.
Together with Scarsdale’s Cub Scout Pack 440, Troop 4 will host two recruiting events on Sept. 18 (outdoor games and sports) and Oct. 23 (pumpkin carving). Any rising sixth through 11th graders interested in joining Scarsdale’s Troop 4 may contact Scoutmaster Ted Mazza (scoutmaster@scarsdale4.mytroop.us)
Please visit Troop 4’s website https://scarsdale4.mytroop.us/, and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/125496777531063.
As soon as the school year starts, the scouts will take leadership in designing the STEM, citizen, community service, hikes, and outdoor games they would like to participate in. Parent volunteers serve a supporting role, but the scouts are the leaders.
