With the badges on her uniform overlapping each other, there is not much Savanah Hancock hasn’t accomplished as a Scout.
But, there is one thing she hasn’t achieved just yet: the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Boy Scouts of America.
According to the Eudora Boy Scouts, there have been 62 Eagle Scouts since 1958. But when Hancock becomes an Eagle Scout, she would be the first female to achieve the rank.
While she understands the significance of being the first female Eagle Scout in Eudora, Hancock, 16, said this is not the only way she wants to be thought about.
“I’m sure for other people, it’s amazing,” she said. “But, I don’t really look at it that way. I’ve been a lot of firsts in Scouting, but like I don’t look at my gender as something that identifies what I should be or what I could be.”
“So honestly, I don’t really like it when people are like, ‘Oh, well, she was the first girl staff member,’” Hancock continued. “And I just don’t want to be remembered as the first. I want to be someone remembered as someone who helps someone else, instead of just the first. And I want to be known for the things that I do instead of when I do that, and learn how I did that before other people.”
Troop 6064 Scoutmaster Aubrey Brooks said it would mean a lot for Hancock to become the first local female Eagle Scout, especially when there was some pushback to girls being part of the program.
“I guess people didn’t realize that girls have been a part of BSA since the ‘60s as Venture Scouting and that was all co-ed,” she said. “People were nervous that girls were trying to take over the Scouts. But now, the support for us just really represents and shows how much growth our community has seen.”
Hancock said she still has some planning to do and paperwork to fill out for her project. But she did get her project approved at her unit committee meeting Monday, a critical step in the process.
Now, Hancock said she must pitch her project to and get approval from her unit’s council. Hancock said the councilwill make sure the money involved is spent well and the project is suitable for an Eagle Scout project, much like at the unit committee meeting.
Hancock said the councilalso looks for 100 hours of work that will be put into the project. When the council approves her project, she can start working on it.
Hancock, who lives in Baldwin City but belongs to the Eudora troop since her hometown doesn’t have a girls troop, plans to provide Baldwin City High School with a more suitable form of transportation for trauma kits for her project.
“Currently, their trauma kits are in five-gallon buckets,” Hancock said. “And in the case of an active shooter, which I hope there isn’t, it’ll allow students to get out quicker.”
Hancock said she will provide backpacks to make the trauma kits easier to transport. She said she will also provide all the supplies that are in every single trauma kit and replace any expired goods from the current kits. For kits on the second story of the school, Hancock is going to put foldable ladders.
“I want them to be able to get out of the building instead of being weighed down by something,” she said. “The backpacks will be lighter and it’s easier to carry. It’s not so awkward as like carrying around a five-gallon bucket. So, that’s how it would kind of benefit. And a backpack is something easy that you can throw over your shoulders and run if possible.”
Hancock said she is hoping to get a sponsorship from Advent Health to help pay for the backpacks and medical supplies.
In addition to her Eagle Scout, Hancock is also working on her quartermaster award for Sea Scouts and her summit award for Venturing Crew.
Both awards are the highest ranks in their respective programs. To earn her quartermaster award, Hancock said she is planning on building 5-10 benches for the Mill Creek Rifle Club.
Hancock said she is thinking about making trauma kits for the entire Baldwin City School District to earn the summit award, but she is waiting to get her Eagle Scout project done before she starts on this project.
“She loves Scouts and all of the different organizations that she’s involved in with Scouts,” Brooks said about Hancock. “Basically, her whole life outside of school is the Scouts. She’s very passionate about it.”
Brooks said Hancock could achieve her Eagle Scout rank in as little as six months depending how long the council review and paperwork takes.
Two more girls are also preparing to become Eagle Scouts soon. Lori Brooks, daughter of Aubrey, and Abigail Aronhalt are both working with the Giving Garden to plan out their projects.
Brooks said Lori will be building compost bins for the Giving Garden, while Aronhalt wants to plant a butterfly garden for her project.
“I think these projects will help bring more attention to the Giving Garden and what the Giving Garden’s goals are,” Brooks said. “That I think will help the community.”
Brooks said depending how long Lori’s project takes she could achieve Eagle Scout in a little under a year, while Abigail could take about a year and half to achieve the rank.
Recently, two Scouts in Troop 64 have completed their Eagle Scout projects as well.
Scout Jonas Staples earned his rank by installing a practice disc golf basket at the course at Bluejacket Park. Staples said he also replaced the distance markers and added wood chips at each disc golf basket.
As an avid disc golfer himself, Staples said he thinks his project will help keep others safe at the course and bring more players to the course.
“Before I installed the practice basket there, people were like putting on different baskets, which kind of put people in jeopardy of getting hit,” Staples said. “I’m in a league at Eudora, and everybody really likes it and wants to play more here.”
Scout Andrew Lord completed his project in July with Operation Wildlife in Linwood, Kansas. Lord built about 20 raptor perches, or stands for the birds of prey under the organization’s care to sit on.
According to Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, raptor perches help prevent a bird ailment known as bumblefoot. The perches create different pressure points on the bird’s feet and help the birds evenly distribute their weight.
Lord said he wanted to help Operation Wildlife after the organization visited a Scouting event in search of volunteers.
“They’re always looking for people to help work for or help make stuff for them,” he said. “So, that’s kind of how I got started on it. We had a lot of help there, and it went pretty good.”
For all of these Scouts, achieving their Eagle Scout rank is an exciting and fulfilling moment during their time in scouting.
“It’s amazing,” Staples said. “Now, I’m an Eagle Scout forever. Like, I can’t say I wasn’t an Eagle Scout because I always am one. So, that’s really cool to say that.”
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
