Graph
ic by
Lily K
lau ’2
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FEATURES
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Graphic by Katie Simons ’22
Arora crushes gender stereotypes with Scout community service Theresa Vandis ’22 Business Director
T
he typical Girl Scout adorns a purple and green neck scarf and a brightly colored sash embellished with patches and pins to commemorate the completion of an award or journey. Every couple of years, that sash is replaced with a different shade of green or beige to resemble the scout growing older, graduating from Daisy to Brownie to Junior to Cadette to Senior to Ambassador. But this procession was not for Neha Arora ’22. Instead, Arora puts on her khaki shirt, embedded with pockets, army green pants and a matching necktie. Arora is a female Boy Scout. Arora joined the Boy Scouts (now referred to as just Scouts) in 2019, when the corpora-
LEADERSHIP Neha Arora ’22 is Senior Patrol Leader, which is recognized as the highest youth leadership position within a Scout’s troop.
tion opened its doors to young women as well as young men. “My brother did Boy Scouts and I was always interested in what he did,” Arora said. “Girl Scouts didn’t offer me the same experience [...] Boy Scouts was more wilderness survival and buildi n g fires a n d learning all of these skills.” Arora isn’t the only girl in her scout troop. The majority of the scouts range from 1118 years old, and many young girls from the middle schools have joined. Despite the influx of female scouts, Arora admits that the atmosphere wasn’t
always inviting. “At first it was kind of awkward, because the boys [would] give us weird looks,” Arora said. “I go to this camp every summer in Rhode Island and it’s like 10 girls out of 400 boys.” Nikhil Arora ’22, Neha’s brother and a Boy Scout since before 2019, believes the integration of the scouts w a s beneficial for everyone involved. “ I think it’s long overdue. BSA [Boy Scouts of America] should have implemented a coed environment or should have let girls in way earlier since the skills we learn in Scouts are valuable to everyone,” Nikhil Arora said.
Neha Arora is currently working on her Eagle project, which is the highest rank you can earn as a Scout. Approximately 55,000 youth achieve this milestone every year. The project’s emphasis is on growing leadership and collaborative skills through proper planning and development. “I am currently working on a project with veterans in Bridgeport. I am doing a food drive for them and collecting clothes and canned food,” Arora said. Arora recognizes that she is paving a path for younger girls to have someone to look up to. She also recognizes the importance of sharing her experience with others, so that once she graduates, there will be a legacy to follow. “It’s important to get people involved a n d m a k e them feel okay to have different interests,” Arora said. “I just want -Neha Arora ’22 girls to have the same chance as boys to get skills that are actually important.”
“I just want girls to have the same chance as boys to get skills that are actually important.”
Photos by Theresa Vandis ’22
