Chelsea girl hopes Boy Scouts' name change will open door to others like her
CHELSEA - In the dining room of her Chelsea home, Emily Green showed off her dozens of patches and medals. They are the result of years of work and hundreds of hours to become an Eagle Scout.
Green, 16, is a high school sophomore who joined the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America even before the organization started officially allowing girls into the ranks in 2019.
The teenager said she tried joining the Girls Scouts, but the activities didn't fit her hobbies or interests. "I would go there, and we would swim, maybe do crafts, make stuffed animals from a sock, but it wasn't fun," Green said. "It wasn't what I enjoyed doing at all. Since I had been following my brother, I got to go on a few family trips with him, too, and that was just so much more fun. I could build the fire, canoe to an island, pitch a tent, and have fun. I wanted to do whatever the boys were doing."
Green earned her Eagle Scout status in 2022, but the patch she was given didn't quite fit. A fellow scout made an alternative. "This is a patch somebody from the troop made for me to put on my uniform," Green said. "It's an unofficial one that doesn't have the word boy in it."
Despite its change in policy to allow females, the 114-year-old organization's name had not changed to reflect the inclusivity. That changed this week during the national organization's annual meeting in Florida.
The organization opted to change its name from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America. The rebranding is set to become official next year.
John Judge heads up more than 70 troops in the Boston area and was at the national meeting in Florida. "Certainly in terms of being more welcoming, it's really important for us to change that name," said Judge, who is the CEO of Spirit of Adventure Counsel.
Her mother, Lizabeth Valerio, who is a Cubmaster, said the change reflected an inclusive mindset the organization had been working years to curate. She said troops in the area were reluctant to take Emily, but they found a home with Troop 56 in Cambridge.
"You are not giving back to the community if you are leaving half the population behind," said Valerio. "I think society is not what's good for a boy or what's good for a girl, but what is good for everybody. Does the girl have the same opportunities as the boy?"