PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The decorations placed on the Boy Scouts of America uniform are earned.
Every. Single. One.
Even more commendable, though, is the character of the person underneath.
“I don’t like being a quitter,” Katie Thompson said. “If I start something, I like to see it through.”
Thompson grew up with Boy Scouts. Her father works for the organization and her older brother, Calvin, had been involved since he was 11. The family moved to Pickerington in 2017. Then, in February of 2019, a change to allow girls into the organization.
“There was also this little voice in the back of my head the whole time that was like ‘Imagine how excited your dad is gonna be’,” she said.
How excited would dad be to have not one, but two Eagle Scouts in the family.
Thompson got to work. Her project was helping a Dublin church create a family fun day. The Eagle Scout project takes about two years to finalize. Before the rules changed, boys had the better part of seven years to figure out their projects. Katie knocked out all of her requirements and achieved Eagle Scout in less than three.
“I get this level of respect from people that I never had gotten before,” she said.
The Simon Kenton Council, which is one of the largest councils in the nation that serves 18 counties in Ohio and Kentucky, says it has a total of 267 Eagle Scouts. Of that number, only 13 are female.
Thompson is the first female to be granted Eagle Scout in Pickerington.
She says there’s room for many more.
“It might be called Boy Scouts, but it’s not just for boys,” Thompson said. “It’s all about leadership and growth and there’s no reason that everyone shouldn’t be able to participate in that.”
And in just a few short years she says the word for more inclusion is getting out there.
“Just being in my troop since I’ve started and going through the process myself, I’ve seen a couple girls [in Boy Scouts],” she said. “Seeing them going through the program [and] seeing them growing and changing and learning.”
You won’t find a decoration on her uniform that marks her achievement in being a role model. But, that’s something she’s earned and she proudly wears on her sleeve.