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Morning Diary / Stephanie Ujhelyi Beaver, local elementary school students Joella Wood, 7, daughter of Michael and Christy Wood, and Olive Infante, 5, daughter of Lou and Rebekah Infante, were recently the first girls admitted to the St. Luke Cub Pack 43. Lutheran Church.
LIVERPOOL EAST – Two local Scout troops recently made the decision to be more inclusive, voting to open membership to girls.
Michael Wood, Boy Scout Leader for Cub Scout Pack 43, and Mike McGowan, Boy Scout Leader for Boy Scout Troop 2012, recently announced that their respective efforts will be co-directed this month.
Membership in Pack 43, which has operated out of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church for 35 years, voted overwhelmingly for the move several weeks ago. The organization became co-operative at the national level two years ago, said Wood.
The Cubs, who served boys ages 5-10, had organizations like Pack 43, which had tried to create an all-female pack; however, on his own, they found that he could not be sustained. Therefore, Wood said they decided to try this approach.
In both groups, one of the requirements for the girls is the presence of three women over the age of 21 to act as Scout leaders, and every effort has conformed to this. However, the approach is slightly different depending on the age of the young people served.
Both require male and female members to have some privacy, maintaining separate sleeping and bathing areas during overnight trips. However, this is obviously more of a concern for older troops like 2012, as they have more qualifying activities like this than smaller ones. “Cubs don’t do that according to the norm” Wood added.
Since the decision was made, 40-member Pack 43 has seen four girls sign up for the co-ed program and another dozen express their interest.
The Buckeye Council, which is based in County Stark, has encouraged the two to continue offering the option, which is a first for our region.
McGowan, who oversees the 2012 Boy Scout Troop at Long’s Run Trinity Church, said he was unaware that Pack 43 was considering opening their membership to girls, until Buckeye council officials let him know. the news when he reunited with them.
It’s a bit more complicated for Troop 2012, which was actually supposed to create two different troops within their main one. While McGowan leads the boys under 2012b, her female counterpart Billie Conrad oversees the girls under 2012g. As part of this, not only did Conrad have the two additional adult females as discussed by Wood as a requirement, but also a few of McGowan’s fellow Scout Chiefs were assigned to help McGowan with the girls.
“Girls will have the opportunity to complete all scout requirements and potentially earn Eagle Scout (status) just like boys. We have six adult Eagle Scouts among our leaders, so we want them to get the most experience as well ”, McGowan added.
“We just got approval two weeks ago and we (already) have six girls interested in joining us, so we’re talking about having an open house.”
For more information on joining Cub Scout Pack 43, which meets at 6 p.m. every Monday at the East Liverpool Community and Learning Center, contact Wood at 330-708-1208 (through fifth grade).
McGowan said 2012 meets every Monday at 7 p.m. in Longs Run Trinity Church and urges those who wish to participate to contact him at 330-429-0059, Conrad at 330-831-0735 or Eber Grimes at 330-831 -9664.
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