Five Millburn Girls Become Eagle Scouts

MILLBURN, NJ — Five women from Scouts Boy Scouts of America Troop 19 in Millburn earned the rank of Eagle Scout on Feb. 8. The troop, chartered at St. Rose of Lima Church-Short Hills, will award them their medals this May at a Court of Honor ceremony.

This was the first year in which young women could attain the rank of Eagle Scout, which had been available only to young men for 111 years.

The Troop 19 inaugural class of Eagle Scouts are Katelyn Cannon, Keira Lowden, Riya Tyagi, Bridget Lomax, and Morgan Lomax.

When the Boy Scouts of America announced they would open their program to girls, an enthusiastic 11-year-old named Riya Tyagi led a small group of friends to explore the opportunity. Together they formed their own Scouts BSA Troop in February 2019 and, for the next two years, worked to be in the Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts.

Each Scout assumed leadership positions, attended training sessions and summer camp, taught critical skills for rank advancement, and led community service Eagle Scout projects. Most of their journey was under the shadow of a global pandemic that added an important leadership lesson – adaptability.

In total, Troop 19's five Eagle Scouts earned collectively 303 merit badges and are responsible for approximately 1,300 hours of community service directly attributable to their Eagle Scout projects.

They are all members of the Order of Arrow, Scouting's Honor Society. They have earned individual awards, including the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award, Interpreter Strip, Scouts BSA World Conservation Award, and segments of the National Outdoor Award. Troop 19 has thrived under their leadership and become the largest female Scout Troop in the Northern New Jersey Council with thirty scouts from over a dozen townships.

The following biographies were provided by Troop 19:

Katelyn Cannon – age 15, a sophomore at Millburn High School, is currently the Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 19 and has served as Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, and Scribe. As part of her Eagle Scout project, Katie formed a non-profit corporation, The Koala Conservation Crew, and partnered with the Koala Hospital in Australia as her beneficiary. Katie's project goal was to drive awareness and lead conservation efforts to address the declining population and habitat of Koalas. Katie's project was over 300 service hours and had 25 volunteers. Its scope included developing a website, official logo, and merchandise, a virtual educational series with two guest speakers (one from The Koala Hospital, including several koalas, and another from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service). Her project also encompassed a letter-writing campaign supporting the Koala Protection Act with over 300 letters to the Australian Prime Minister of Environment. Her volunteers also built and shipped wildlife drinking stations for two wildlife reservations in Kenya: the William Holden Wildlife Foundation and the Mount Kenya Conservancy. Lastly, her project raised $9,750, representing one dollar for each mile between her home and the Koala Hospital, of which approximately $5,000 will be donated to the Koala Hospital's New Wild Koala Breeding Program.

Keira Lowden – age 16, a sophomore at Summit High School, is currently the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader and has served consecutive terms a Patrol Leader, Webmaster, and Troop Bugler. Keira has taken National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) and serves as an NYLT instructor. She'll attend National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE) at the Summit Bechtel Reserve this summer. Keira's project beneficiary was the New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS), the state's largest independent, non-profit community performing arts center serving over 1,500 students. Keira has been a flutist at NJYS since moving to New Jersey in 2018. Under Keira's leadership, her team of 10 volunteered over 200 service hours to create a searchable, digital archive to preserve the forty-year history of NJYS. They scanned over 1,200 physical pieces of playbills, programs, articles, and more, totaling over 3 GB of data. Because of her project's success, NJYS now has easy access to this information to use for membership drives, fundraising, and marketing efforts. Since data corruption is always a risk with any digitalization, Keira made sure to provide NJYS with a back-up archive.

Riya Tyagi - age 13, a freshman at Phillips Exeter Academy, is currently a Troop Guide and has served as the Troop's founding Senior Patrol Leader (at the age 11) and Instructor. After reading many stories about youth engagement in community service during COVID-19, she was inspired to recognize their dedication and contributions. She proposed creating a Youth Service Award and developing an award nomination portal that would be accessible to the public. Straight from Shark Tank's playbook, Riya presented her ideas to the Millburn Township Community Service Award Committee (CSAC). CSAC welcomed her visionary spirit and served as her project beneficiary. Riya and her team of 10 volunteers amassed over 200 service hours. They worked directly with the township mayor and CSAC committee members to align the online nomination portal's vision and functionality. The portal is now live and accepting community service award nominations from Millburn Township residents. Riya achieved her project's goals to recognize outstanding youth, drive diversity and inclusiveness by making the nomination process more accessible to the entire community, assist in reducing the Township's carbon footprint, and increase public safety (considering COVID precautions) by digitizing the award nomination process. To view the nomination portal, visit www.millburntwpcommunityservice.com.

Bridget Lomax - age 14, a freshman at the Academy of St. Elizabeth, is a Troop Guide and has served as an Instructor, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, and Senior Patrol Leader. In response to the COVID pandemic, Bridget saw that nursing home residents couldn't have in-person visitors and wanted to do something for them. Bridget led her volunteers in creating a 90-minute video performance for her beneficiary, Winchester Gardens. Under her leadership, 25 volunteers donated over 100 hours by serving as performers, editors, and designers. A "Musical Exhibition" was safely shown to hundreds of quarantined residents on the facility's internal TV system. Her team also provided snacks for the senior residents to enjoy. To view a clip of her "Musical Exhibition," visit: https://youtu.be/d_-uMHQ2Z3g.

Morgan Lomax - age 14, a freshman at the Academy of St. Elizabeth, is currently a Troop Guide and OA Representative and has served as Quartermaster, Patrol Leader, and Senior Patrol Leader. Morgan noted the bat population has been dramatically declining for the last years in New York and New Jersey and is now in jeopardy. With an army of 39 volunteers for over 400 hours, she led a project called "The Bat Project." Her mission was to construct ten bat houses and install them in New Jersey. With the installation of the bat houses, she has successfully secured new homes for 1,500 bats in three New Jersey counties. She also created a video series to highlight the importance of bats on the environment. To view her video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd-WfJd-iOg.

"This is a historic moment for young women and is at the core of Scouting. Being prepared to work hard, be a leader, overcome challenges and achieve your goals regardless of gender. Scouting is a pathway to learn about yourself, explore new subjects and gain the confidence to be successful in life," said Scoutmaster Daniel Cannon. "Please join me in congratulating the young women who represent "The Change": Katie, Keira, Riya, Bridget, and Morgan for their accomplishments and all young women of the Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts."

Cannon recently said on International Women's Day, "Over the last two years, thousands of young women have paved the way to neutralize any gender bias about their ability to endure an equal standard of rigor as young men in the attainment of the coveted rank of Eagle Scout. With their bravery, they have globally influenced positive change by demonstrating that there is nothing to fear with being inclusive and simply being provided an equal opportunity."

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