Nearly a year after becoming Rye’s first female Eagle Scout, Amélie Coghlan hopes more girls will follow the trail she helped blaze.
“You’ll make friends and experience something new and different, which will let you learn about yourself,” said Coughlan, who officially received her rank at a Court of Honor recently (though she actually became an Eagle Scout a year ago).
The highest honor for Scouts, Eagle Scout is earned by only 6 percent of Scouts, according to National Scout records.
Coghlan was a member of Troop 420 in Port Chester, which has 17 scouts from six different towns — all girls.
As a child, Coghlan watched her older brother enjoy his time in Cub Scouts. And then, in 2018, the opportunity to join the Scouts became available to girls.
She joined the Scouts in her freshman year at Rye High School, at age 14, giving her a tight timeline. She had just three years to earn the 21 merit badges necessary to become an Eagle Scout before aging out of scouting eligibility.
The badges require learning skills, community involvement, and work in personal areas of interest. And every Scout hoping to become an Eagle Scout has to do a project that focuses on leadership and service.
Coghlan turned her love of reading into a library classroom for the Rye Nature Center’s preschool program. She had to work through harsh weather. When the wrong paint color arrived, she had to go replace it.
“It’s about doing your best to do right by everybody and taking the time not only to serve yourself but also your community,” said Coghlan, who insists that being the first girl in Rye to become an Eagle Scout was not a big deal.
She noted that female Scouts still have the challenge of navigating an environment dominated by boys. In Rye alone, Boy Scout Troop 2 and Rye Pack 2 together have about 80 scouts. But she would not be deterred, saying that leadership and life skills are important for boys and girls.
Having to balance the demands of both high school and Scouts, Coghlan at times wanted to give up her dream of being an Eagle Scout. There was a lot of work, and it was not always fun.
“I had a Scoutmaster once describe there are three types of fun you can have,” Coghlan said. “Type one is outright fun that you enjoy. Type two is when it’s not so fun in the moment, but it’s fun looking back on it. And at times, it’s type three fun, which is just not fun at any point.”
She now realizes her journey was a combination of all three of these, she said.
In difficult times, Troop 420 scouts seek support from their Scoutmaster, Dona Ortiz, and assistant Scoutmasters, Lindsay St. Lawrence, Yadira Perez, and Sayantani Biswas. Coghlan said these women help the scouts grow and encourage them to pursue the rank of Eagle Scout. She wishes they received more recognition.
Coghlan recalled one trying experience as a Scout: a seven-day trek in New Mexico to the remote Philmont Scout Ranch. The trip was one of the most difficult challenges of her life, she said.
Before the trek even began, one of the leaders suffered from heat stroke and was attended to by emergency medical staff. The experience reinforced the importance of emergency preparedness and inspired Coghlan to become a certified lifeguard.
The trek itself was demanding. Over the course of seven days, the troops covered 48 miles and reached three summits. While at one summit, Coghlan recalled, she felt “on top of the world, as if everything was tangible.” And she left feeling that after that, she could accomplish anything.
Coghlan’s scouting adventures extended beyond the United States. In 2023, she attended the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea, along with 15,000 Scouts from 150 different countries. The plan was for all of them to stay at a campsite, but a flood and monsoon forced the 600 American scouts into a U.S. Army base.
Now a rising sophomore at Trinity College Dublin, Coghlan plans to keep up with Troop 420 and attend Scouts’ projects and Court of Honors.
