Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Eagle Has Landed

Last night when I read the paper, there was a story about a patrol of 11 Boy Scouts who all received the Eagle Scout award at the same time. This is very unusual and obviously merited reporting. (The link is not to my paper as they don't have the story online.)

But it got me to thinking.

Maybe not in the national news, but certainly in the local news, we've all read stories about local boys reaching this highest award in Scouting.

Hm-m-m-m.

It occurred to me that I have never seen a photo of a Girl Scout receiving the highest award. Then it dawned on me even more, that I had no idea what the highest award was for the Girl Scouts, even though I was a GS through my senior year in high school and am now a volunteer with that organization.

So a boy receives an Eagles award.

I did my research. A girl receives the Gold Award. Last year according to the GS website, about 5,500 girls received this recognition.

Do we need to do a better PR job for our girls? Are there no girls in my community receiving this award? What's the deal?

The Eagle Award is very prestigious. Admission officers say that it boosts a young man's chances of being accepted into the college of their choice.

I think the spotlight needs to continue to shine on the wonderful pursuits of these young men

AND

we need to find the switch for the spotlight to use for the girls.

What's your take on this?

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