Huntley teen 1 of 3 females to earn Eagle Badge in McHenry County

As a child, Shirley Stockwell of Huntley was told she could never earn an Eagle Badge like her older brother.

They laughed when she was 8 years old and made such a declaration. People told her, “Oh, aren’t you cute,” she and her mother, Diana Stockwell, recalled.

“She now is a leader,” Diana Stockwell said.

On Feb. 1, 2019, after the Boy Scouts of America changed its rules to allow girls to be Scouts, the then-14-year-old Shirley Stockwell signed up.

She joined the new Troop 2019 of Huntley, initially made up of about seven girls.

She quickly earned about 30 merit badges – to become an Eagle Scout requires at least 21 – and last year became the first girl in Troop 2019 to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

She is one of only three girls to reach this rank in the Sycamore District, which covers McHenry County, according to information provided by Lori Prescott, registrar with Scouts B.S.A.

The first girl in the Sycamore District to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout was named in 2022, and this year a second female in the district also earned the rank, Prescott said.

Achieving the rank of Eagle Scout as a youth “is a daunting task and reflects a significant level of dedication” to the Scouts, said Mike McCleary, an assistant Scoutmaster in Troop 2019 in Huntley and Troop 152 in Algonquin, a boys’ troop.

McCleary praised Shirley Stockwell for rising to the Eagle Scout rank faster than most Scouts and earning it while dealing with COVID-19 limitations in place.

Scouts typically have between the ages of 10 and 18 to achieve the Eagle Scout rank. Stockwell, now 19, joined when she was 14 and earned the rank by age 18.

“For Shirley Stockwell, her journey to Eagle Scout shows an exceptional level of dedication,” said McCleary, who has volunteered in the Scouts B.S.A. program for 28 years and also works as a court security officer in the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.

For about six months from 2021 to 2022, Shirley Stockwell designed, built and installed a Little Free Library at Crystal Lake Road and Acorn Lane in Lake in the Hills, earning her the Eagle Scout rank.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit book-exchange program, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, that seeks to expand access to books through a global network of volunteer-led book-exchange boxes, according to the group’s website.

The idea to make that her project came from a request made by Rich Ross, who lives with his girlfriend Sheryl Heiman at the location where the Little Free Library now stands in Lake in the Hills.

The couple had lived in the house about four years and had a book box on-site, but it needed to be replaced.

Ross had Scouts in his family, and so he knew Scouts often look for projects to help earn the Eagle Scout rank. So he made an inquiry looking for a new Little Free Library, and Stockwell answered the call.

“It was great,” Heiman, a teacher, said about the experience of working with Stockwell as she built the library box. “She showed us different designs, layouts. … Everybody is loving it. It is great.”

The box is large enough to fit about 75 books on separate shelves, organized by adult, child and teen. It is painted white and covered with colorful handprints. The handprints were made by the girls in Stockwell’s troop.

“She was very sweet and very excited about doing it,” Heiman said.

Stockwell said she chose this project because it was something that “benefited everyone.”

The project also included completing a 15-page workbook that covered everything the project would require, including the cost and how she was going to fund it. More than 10 people reviewed her workbook. She then had to present the plans to a district representative, who reviewed and approved the project.

After that, Stockwell contacted various companies and asked for donations of the materials she needed. She also sold brownies at a community concert to raise money.

Hines Lumber in Hampshire donated all the wood, screws and nails needed, and the Huntley Legion allowed her to sell brownies at one of its concerts in the square events, she said.

Stockwell then sent out signs to everyone she knew, asking for volunteers to help build, paint and install the little library.

Over three weekends, people came to build, paint and install it – and then it was “back to the workbook to write a report of how it went,” she said. Her report was reviewed locally as well as at the district and national level.

The project was reviewed by the Eagle Scout Board of Review, where Stockwell met with district leaders and people from other troops. It was all sent off to district and national Scout levels for review.

Her older brother, Robert “Bob” Stockwell, 26, who became an Eagle Scout in 2015, said he is “very proud” of his sister’s accomplishments and is “thrilled to see women in Scouts and, even better, as Eagle Scouts.”

“I think that Scouting is a fantastic place for people to learn a variety of skills in leadership and prioritization,” he said, adding that earning Eagle Scout ranking will help his sister the way it has helped him personally and professionally.

Her mother said the rank has “a reputation worldwide,” and it shows future employers, colleges and the military that a person was dedicated and involved in a program that encouraged leadership skills.

It “makes you stand out among your peers,” she said.

To earn the Eagle Scout rank, a Scout must achieve seven rank advancements, earn a minimum of 21 merit badges and complete an Eagle Scout project exhibiting their leadership skills along the journey to becoming an Eagle Scout, McCleary said.

Scouting offers several activities and clubs year-round and gives out badges as awards for trying new activities, learning new things, completing tasks and being involved in civic activities that benefit others and their community.

Through Scouting and all the badges and advancements, Scouts are learning life skills such as budgeting, camping, cooking, first aid and how to deal with environmental issues, McCleary said.

Shirley Stockwell, who was a senior patrol leader during the pandemic, said it was challenge to keep the troop together and engaged during that time. She hosted virtual meetings with games and activities focusing on fun without putting too much pressure on the work needed toward badges. At times, Scouts wouldn’t show up, and she worried they couldn’t keep the troop together.

Diana and Bob Stockwell agreed that Shirley started later and had more challenges on the road to earning the rank.

“In a lot of ways, she earned a more difficult award than I did because there were a lot of additional challenges that made it hard,” Bob said.

Diana, who volunteered with all four of her children’s scouting troops, said the experience helped her daughter, the baby of the family, bloom.

“When she started, she was pretty shy, pretty quiet. [It] took her a long time to warm up,” Diana said. “She wasn’t a very strong leader, but by the time she finished, every part of her leadership skills blossomed through the program.”

Although many Scouts leave the program when they turn 18, Shirley, who works as a certified nursing assistant at an assisted living center in Huntley, chose to stay on and become an adult member of the Scouts B.S.A program. She now serves her troop as an assistant Scoutmaster.

Of earning the Eagle Scout rank, Shirley said it allowed her to try new things she otherwise would not have experienced, make new friends, and learn life skills and leadership skills.

“It was just something I had to do,” she said.

“People told me my whole life I couldn’t get Eagle [rank], that it was not something I could do,” she said. “I did it. … I succeeded, I nailed it, and if I could get that after my entire life of people telling me that I couldn’t do it … then I could do anything.”