Most little girls dream of what they want to be when they grow up. But few dream of being an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. In fact, when Charlotte Arlidge was first born that would have been an impossible dream — girls weren’t allowed in the boy scout troops then.
It’s different now: girls are in. Arlidge jumped on board when she was 13-½. Now 17, she will formally be awarded her prized Eagle Scout rank in January. “I want to be one of the first Eagles of 2025,” she said.
Female Eagle Scouts are a rarity; becoming one is not easy and takes a lot of determination. Out of under one million scouts in the entire country, about 176,000 are girls and only 6,000 girls are Eagle Scouts.
Charlotte and her parents, April and Jay Arlidge, moved to Port St. Lucie in 2020 from California and started home schooling. She began looking for something she could do with other children. “I was trying a lot of different activities trying to find something that fit right with me,” she said. Initially, she tried Girl Scouts. “That lasted about a month,” she said, “it just wasn’t what I was looking for.” The Girl Scouts were involved in a lot of crafts, but Charlotte wanted something that was more active, outdoors, where she could learn new skills and enjoy teamwork.