Meet the all-female Boy Scouts Troop out of Spring Valley

SPRING VALLEY – Boy Scouts Troop 1091 of Spring Valley is one of the state’s very few all-female troops.

The troop officially formed in May 2019, three months after the national scouting organization changed its program to allow girls to join.

The Boy Scouts troop is made up of six girls whose ages range from junior high to high school. Currently, the troop is looking for more girls to join in order to give the Scouts more leadership opportunities.

The girls comes from different parts of Bureau and La Salle counties: two from Peru – sisters – and the others from Ladd, Cherry and Spring Valley.

The troop’s patrol leader, Paige Hanson, drives from Leland, an hour away, to be a part of the organization.

“I come from the farthest, but I still make the trip out here because it’s something I love,” she said. “I tried another troop before coming here but it was a larger group, and as an outsider coming in, I didn’t fit in. Here, it’s a group made up of girls from smaller villages and towns, and we click a lot better and have way more in common.”

While the troop is just like any other Boy Scouts organization in terms of how the program is run, the difference is that it’s comprised only of girls. Many troops around the state transitioned to co-ed once Boy Scouts allowed girls to join.

Being a rarity allows Troop 1091 to make Boy Scouts history. For example, this past summer, the troop became the first all-female troop to camp at Canyon Camp in northern Illinois. They got to mark the moment by raising the flag at the camp that’s more than 100 years old.

What’s the attraction for girls to join Boy Scouts?

People are probably wondering why a girl would have any interest in a program that was crafted for boys.

If you ask these girls, they will tell you it’s the adventurous things they get to learn about and do in Boy Scouts that attracted them to the troop.

Most of the girls had older brothers who were in Boy Scouts, so they got to see firsthand what the program offered. Many times, the girls would tag along with their brothers to family-oriented events. So they weren’t totally unfamiliar with what they were getting into when they signed on.

Hanson said watching her brother in Boy Scouts is what interested her to join a local Girl Scout troop. However, it didn’t take long to figure out the two programs were very different and offered a totally different set of skills to learn.

“I wasn’t in Girl Scouts for very long because I really didn’t like it. … The Boy Scouts are more about camping, overnight stays ... it’s just more adventurous.”

—  Paige Hanson

“Girl Scouts are more known for cookies, whereas Boy Scouts, we’re always doing something. There is always climbing, getting dirty and stuff like that. In Girl Scouts, you don’t really get to do those things,” she said. “I wasn’t in Girl Scouts for very long because I really didn’t like it. … The Boy Scouts are more about camping, overnight stays ... it’s just more adventurous.”

Troop 1091 Scoutmaster Theresa Sartain of Ladd got into Boy Scouts with her two older sons. She was a Cub Scout den mother alongside her own mother, Mary VanFleet of Ladd, who today is Troop 1091′s committee chairman.

When Sartain’s youngest child, a daughter, became old enough to join Cub Scouts, she already was familiar with the program and had the resources and network to start a strong girls-only Cub Scouts den. Some of those Cub Scouts then graduated to Boy Scouts, and, now, some are members of Troop 1091. Her daughter, Ella, is one of them.

Sartain said Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, while very similar, are “two totally different programs.”

She said Boy Scouts builds leaderships and teaches the girls things they never would have never tried before or had the opportunity to do. For example, while working toward their automotive maintenance badges, the girls learned how to change oil and do typical car maintenance. Another recent adventure has been outdoor camping in the middle of winter.

“It’s showing them that they can push their limits and be successful and are stronger than what they think they are,” Sartain said. “It’s really about getting them out of their comfort zone.”

Jim Whitten, assistant scoutmaster, was a Boy Scouts leader in Cherry for seven years and led a Cub Scouts troop in La Moille for five years before that. He bowed out of the organization to let other parents step up, but he missed the organization a lot. So in 2019, when Sartain called him and said she was interested in starting an all-female troop and could use some help, he jumped at the opportunity.

Having the experience of leading boys and now girls, he said the dynamics of the groups are very different.

“What I like about the girls is I haven’t had to yell at them yet,” he said.

His philosophy: “First, I’ll ask; then, I’ll tell; then, I’ll yell.”

“With the boys, they may have to be yelled at three or four times. The girls, I ask them. They may look at me and then I tell them what needs to be done, and they are on it. They get it done right away,” he said.

Sartain said she feels girls work better together as a team, when boys seem to be more competitive.

Being able to work as a team is most likely why the girls are so good at cooking dinner over a campfire – a tough skill Troop 1091 is known for.

The troop doesn’t come without its critics

While girls joining Boy Scouts is still a new concept, it’s been hard for older generations to accept the change, especially former Boy Scouts leaders.

The girls in Troop 1091 have faced comments from people of older generations criticizing their group.

They said while it surprised them at first, they came to understand the thinking of that generation and not take it too personal.

They don’t let the critics get them down or hold them back. Mary Lowery, the troop’s scribe, said negative comments actually push them to work harder and become more determined.

“We are great Scouts. We do everything that other Boy Scouts do just as well as the boys, even better sometimes,” she said.

Ella Sartain, the troop’s quartermaster, said, “The more someone tries to tell us to get out, it just makes us want to do it more. We are very driven.”

Whitten said the idea of letting girls into Boy Scouts has been happening in other countries for years. The U.S. organization allowing in girls is a step toward catching up with the world.

“It had been in discussions for years, and I think it finally came to fruition from the fact that a lot of events became more family-oriented instead of scout-oriented,” he said.

On the flip side of the negative comments, the troop has received positive comments from other former Boy Scouts leaders who say they wish the organization would have accepted girls sooner because they had daughters who didn’t get the opportunity and are now past the age of being able to join.

Earning Eagle Scout

The first class of girls around the country earning the rank of Eagle Scout – the highest achievement attainable in the program – are making their way into national news lately.

With that, every girl in Troop 1091 has an interest in doing the same.

They want to earn it for the same reasons a boy would want to: It’s an attractive addition on a college application or resume, plus it qualifies the girls for more scholarships.

Extensions have been made for the first classes of girls wanting to earn Eagle Scout, since they’ve only been allowed in the organization for the past year. Usually a Scout earns the rank before turning 18. These girls will be able to earn it after turning 18 if they wish until the organization catches up with the ages of the newer classes.

A little history about Troop 1091

Troop 1091 was originally a troop out of Tiskilwa that folded 25 years ago. The former scoutmaster had a lot of the troop’s gear stored away that had Troop 1091 written on it. That’s how the all-female troop decided to take over the number; that old gear was then donated to them. Sartain said the tents date back to the 70s, but they’re still in use today. The camp equipment is made of canvas and wood and is a lot heavier than the newer equipment made today, but that doesn’t hold back the girls from lugging it around and using it.

The girls are proud to carry on the history of Troop 1091.