First female Eagle Scout claims her spot in history
November 21, 2024 at 12:26 a.m.
Frankly, Ariana Ayala’s first experience with Scouting involved tears. It’s funny for her to reflect on that now.
She and her older cousin Christopher Gutierrez have birthdays in July that are four days apart. But she grew up not being able to celebrate with him—and as a child, that was deeply upsetting.
“He would go away on a Scouting camping trip that would always land on his birthday and my birthday. Now I don’t see that as a big deal, but when I was little, it was definitely a big deal. I would cry like every year,” Ayala laughed. “But I also started to think…because I know it always took a toll on him; he would also want to be with his family on his birthday. So, there must be something great about Scouting that he’d be happy to sacrifice birthdays with his family.”
Not only did she learn what the hullabaloo was about, but she would become the embodiment of it.
In December 2019, Ayala was a pioneering girl joining the mixed-gendered Cub Scout Pack 400. She was a Corpus Christi-Holy Rosary School fifth-grader with sharp ambition.
“I really want to be an Eagle Scout because in the future, if I ever have children, I want to tell them about my experiences and share what can help them in their life,” she said with a shy, soft-spoken demeanor to this journalist five years ago. Since then, her confidence has emboldened, noticeably.
It was evident at Crawford Park on Tuesday, Nov. 19, as she showed and described her Eagle Scout project that she completed as a member of BSA Troop 420, a group she’s responsible for bringing online.
A week earlier, Port Chester’s Ayala had become the community’s first female Eagle Scout. And the significance of the achievement is not lost on her.
Moments after officially achieving her Eagle rank on Nov. 12, Ariana Ayala hugs her mother Idania while her father Delhi waits in line.By Sarah Wolpoff
“It’s very sentimental and satisfying,” she reflected. “I feel very accomplished. It’s been a dream of mine since I first joined, but I don’t think I ever came to terms with the reality that it could actually happen. And it’s not just accomplishing for me, but all the people who helped me. I think they feel that sense of pride as much as I do.”
Years ago, Moe Acevedo, the longtime scoutmaster of Port Chester’s esteemed Troop 400, described how the Scouts has been transforming—invigorating itself as an institution more inclusive and focused on “family Scouting.” Formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, and then shifting to BSA Scouts, the organization announced in May of this year its plans to rebrand as Scouting America to continue reflecting the changing mindset. The new name goes into effect in February 2025.
Ayala is exactly who those philosophy changes were for.
The national organization started welcoming girls into Scouting in May 2018. That year saw the start of ladies weaving into packs across the country, and the next year, they joined troops.
In October 2019, six girls—including Ayala—joined Cub Scout Pack 400, the feeder into BSA Troop 400. Four of them, however, wouldn’t be able to relish the youth-oriented experience for long. As fifth-graders, they joined Webelos; the following year is when members are meant to become Scouts, which locally is gender segregated. But there was no female troop for them to cross over into.
Of course, they changed that. And there would be no “they” without Ayala.
“I really wanted to continue Scouting,” she recalled. “So, I talked to Mr. Moe, and he said that if we recruited four more girls, we could make a troop. And, well, I recruited four more girls.”
It took a little bit of pleading and a lot of persuasion, but Ayala was able to get her friends to give Scouting a shot. In Summer 2020, BSA Troop 420 was established, named for their original brother troop and to reflect the year. Now, though membership fluctuates, the cohort contains around a dozen girls from Port Chester and Rye Brook as well as a few surrounding communities.
Troop 420 meetings initially took place at Crawford Park to ethically adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why, when the time was right, Ayala wanted to return to the public space for her Eagle Scout project—to pay her respects to the place where it all started.
In early August, she led volunteers through a project to clean and revamp the four benches situated around the park’s Sunken Garden.
“They were chipping, they had a bunch of bird poop and lichen on them. It was like a whole ecosystem on the benches,” she said. “We sanded them down, cleaned them and put oil primer on before painting them so they’ll last longer.”
“Since I was senior patrol leader for Troop 420 for quite a while, I sort of had a sense of how to motivate everyone and make them want to do the job,” she continued. “When I was explaining what to do, I would show them how to do it so we weren’t wasting supplies. We only had enough for exactly what we needed, so we got thrifty with the supplies.”
In December 2019, fifth-graders pioneering as the first girls to join the local Scouting organization recite the Pledge of Allegiance before their weekly meeting begins. On the left is Ariana Ayala, who last week became the first of the cohort to become an Eagle Scout.By File Photo
Throughout the process, she said she learned about resourcefulness and being adaptable to unexpected situations—such as when the primer took longer to dry than expected and the day-to-day plan had to change. She was happy to sit on the newly restored benches while discussing the experience, still beaming from the accomplishment she earned the week prior.
On Nov. 12, she officially became an Eagle. Out of her own pure ambition, she even outpaced her older cousin who inspired her to join the Scouting world in the first place.
Many Scouts looking to become Eagles end up racing the clock—they’re often 17 years old, working to get the requirements completed before their 18th birthday when it will become too late to make rank.
Ayala finished her project the same summer she celebrated her quinceañera. She’s currently a sophomore at John F. Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School in Somers.
“It sounds redundant, but it’s really always been a dream of mine,” she said, but couldn’t deny that she was also feeling a little competitive. “We all wanted to be the first to do it. And I feel like that really pushed me, it inspired me. And it showed me, if I really want something, like genuinely want to accomplish something, there’s no obstacle that can stop me.”
Cautious to avoid sounding boastful, she also rightfully claimed the accomplishment that is hers: she’s the first female Eagle Scout, and it makes sense that it would be her.
“I try to be humble and not tone down my achievements but also try not to make others feel bad with my achievements,” she said. “But if I could, I would be jumping and screaming; I’m so happy that I got Eagle Scout.
“I do think it was appropriate for me to get it first,” she continued. “I put so much into starting the troop.”
Ayala joined the Scouts five years ago for the adventure; she stayed because she felt a moral alignment with the code. And along the way, on the journey to becoming an Eagle, she felt she matured into an adult.
Of her newfound confidence, “Scouting has been a humungous part of it,” she said. “Ever since I was little, I’ve been quiet and reserved. I was always an introvert. But with Scouting, it’s definitely been a way for me to express myself, my feelings, my thoughts in a way that’s not hurting people, but helping them. Scouting definitely helped me break out of my shell.”
A significant chapter of her Scouting story is now over, but the book is not closed. Ayala plans to continue earning merit badges to garner as many palms as possible before she turns 18. “The palms are achievements that give the Eagle Scout rank more weight,” she described. It’s an optional way to continue dedication to the Scouting way of life.
But more importantly, she said, moving forward she’s excited to shift her sights onto other young women. For the last five years, her focus has been, admittedly, self-oriented. She wanted to continue Scouting; she wanted to become an Eagle.
“Now as an Eagle Scout, I feel like I have more opportunities and more of a responsibility to help younger Scouts also become an Eagle and follow in my steps,” she said.
For now, she wants to actively recruit girls at BSA open houses by setting up a booth to share the history of Troop 420. When she gets older, she can see herself guiding young Scouts as a camp counselor.
“I hope other girls will see this and want to join Scouting because I’d love to see the troop grow even more,” she said. “I started the troop, but I don’t want it to end with our group because I didn’t want to start it only for myself but to empower other girls. I hope me becoming an Eagle Scout will inspire others to join. I’d like to see our troop as big as the boys’ troop.”
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