First female Eagle Scout is now with the local Scouts

Jul. 19—PRINCETON — Daren and Vanessa Law waited with their daughter Raegan until Omar Aboulhosn, chairman of the Eagle Review Board, came into the room and gave them some important news.

"Congratulations, you have an Eagle Scout," he told them.

Kailyn Law of Pembroke,Va., a member of Scout Troop 460, had just become her troop's first female Eagle Scout as well as the first female Eagle Scout in the Mountain Dominion District of the Buckskin Council BSA. The district covers an area including the West Virginia counties of Mercer, Monroe, Summers and Wyoming as well as the Virginia counties of Tazewell, Bland and Giles.

An interview Monday before a review board at the First United Church in Princeton was the last step Kailyn Law had to complete before earning the title Eagle Scout. A slash adorned with about 29 merit badges testified to the work she did to reach that goal.

"It was a lot. I started when I was 14," she said. "I'm now 17 and I'll be 18 in a month, and I just worked really hard. There's so many badges you have to earn and so much service work you have to do."

Eagle Scout candidates are required to complete a special project.

"I did a flag retirement box," Kailyn law said. "It's a place to put your tattered flags when you're ready for them to be retired, and that's placed at the American Legion Hall in Pembroke."

She described the reason why she decided to join the Scouts and embark on her Eagle Scout quest.

"It was fun. It looked fun," she recalled. "It gave me a lot of opportunities and my whole family's in the Scouts."

The merit badges on Kailyn Law's slash cover subjects ranging from Mammal Study to Radio.

"All of them, you have to take a class with so many requirements," she said. "I know with some of them you're outdoors. You're hiking around, you're in the water swimming. Some of them, you're creating things in classes, some of them cooking and kayaking."

Kailyn Law plans to keep working with the Scouts.

"I'll continue on as long as they'll let me, teach, and I'm still an active member. I'm chaplain's aide and trooper guide," she said. "I'm teaching classes and planning campouts. I'll come back. I'll come back and start leading in the troop."

A board of Scout leaders interviewed Kailyn before she received her Eagle Scout designation.

"That's the Eagle Scout Board Review, and that's when they decide if you're ready to be an Eagle Scout," she said. "They passed me."

The fact Kailyn Law earned the rank of Eagle Scout is a milestone for the Mountain Dominion District.

"It's an historic night for the Mountain Dominion District because she's our first female Eagle recipient in the Mountain Dominion District of the Buckskin Council," Aboulhosn said. "It is a huge event for that to happen. She is well deserving. She did an outstanding job with her interview. She did an outstanding project and she has earned this like any other Eagle Scout would have earned it. There was no different considerations for her as there was for anybody else, so she deserves the rank of Eagle Scout that she earned her tonight, and we're proud to present that to her."

Eagle Scout is the highest rank a Scout can attain, he said.

"It takes a long time to accomplish that. It takes a long time. It's not overnight," Aboulhosn said. "It's not like you attend so many meetings and you become an Eagle Scout. You have a project that is the culmination of your Scouting career and that project takes some time. You have to show leadership, commitment. You have to lead that project, and she did a very nice job down in Pembroke, Va. in creating a tattered flag deposit box so flags can be retired properly, and she did a nice job leading that and led a lot of people in making that project happen."

The review board sees if the Eagle Scout candidate is finally ready for that rank.

"Basically, with the board of review we like to find out about their Scouting experience and what if means to her or any Eagle Scout and how they can kind of pay it forward," said Barry Nowlin, chairman of the advancement committee. A lot of the questions we ask are: how you can ever pay it forward? Most of the realize the amount of money they put in. It's invaluable, the lessons that they learn."

"The cost of earning these merit badges is minimal, but the knowledge that they learn from that and the amount of education they get from that, lifelong knowledge, is invaluable and she recognized that right off the bat when we were asking those questions," Aboulhosn added. "We're very proud of her."

The Law family was ready to go celebrate when they heard the news.

"Wonderful. It's the culmination of a lot of work that Kailyn's done," said Daren Law.

"Absolutely, yes," 15-year-old Raegan, who is also in the Scouts, said when asked if she planned to follow her sister's example.

Kailyn had advice for young people thinking about becoming a Scout.

"Jump in and have fun," she said. "Do as much as you can. Be as involved as you can."

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com