Northeast Iowa district sees its first female Eagle Scout

MANCHESTER — When Erin Mensen of Manchester was waiting to hear if she would be awarded the title of Eagle Scout — a rank she had worked years to earn — she wasn’t nervous.

Despite being outside the room of deliberating board members, she was happy.

Rather than feel anxious, she reminisced.

“I was cherishing those memories,” said Mensen, 17. “I was just excited for this next chapter.”

On Oct. 2, she officially earned the coveted title of Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Scouts BSA organization.

She was the first Scout in her troop to gain the ranking, and she is the first young woman to become an Eagle Scout in the Northeast Iowa Scouting Council in Iowa.

“It feels great to be a leader who other girls look to in Scouts and for those who want to follow in my footsteps,” Mensen said.

The Northeast Council includes Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware and Dubuque counties in Iowa and parts of Jackson and Jo Daviess counties on the other side of the Mississippi River in Illinois.

Only 25 to 30 Scouts achieve the Eagle rank in the Northeast district each year, according to Carl Bobis, executive director and CEO of the Northeast Council.

Mensen will remain in Troop 137, mainly working to encourage other Scouts to “realize their potential” and support them in pursuing the Eagle Scout rank.

“To be first was not the goal. The goal was to become an Eagle Scout,” said Travis Mensen, Erin’s father. “I’m very proud of the young lady that she is and how well she represents scouting. … She’s a good example for younger boys and girls to achieve more than they realize.”

Becoming an Eagle Scout was a goal Erin Mensen set for herself when she joined Scouts in fifth grade. Before that, she’d been a Cub Scout.

“I always thought the activities that the Scouts did were always so intriguing and just seemed so fun, like rock climbing and everything outdoors made me excited to join in,” she said. “Just being with a community that shares the same interests as me really drew me to Scouting.”

Following faith

At the start of Scout meetings at the Manchester Methodist Church, Mensen often kicks off the meeting by leading her fellow Scouts and her troop leaders in reciting the Scout’s Oath and the Scout’s Law.

The Scout’s Oath: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

The Scout’s Law includes staying trustworthy and loyal.

“Being physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight is something I apply to my everyday life,” Mensen said.

“My faith is one of the biggest things,” she added. “I could never have gotten my Eagle without that. My trust in my God gives me all my morals. It gives me the guidelines for my life, and it helps me become a better person, knowing right from wrong. It’s what leads me.”

On her way to the Eagle rank, Mensen earned 21 merit badges, including 14 that are required, including ones in citizenship, cooking and fitness, of all Eagle Scouts.

Mensen also had to complete an Eagle Scout project. She chose to landscape the property around the Masonville Fire Department, where her father works.

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A flock of Eagles

Mensen’s family is into scouting.

Her two older brothers are Eagle Scouts. Her younger sister is in Scouts. And their father, Travis, is the assistant Scoutmaster and cofounder of Troop 137 and also Scoutmaster for a boy’s troop.

Erin Mensen said one of the highlights of Scouting has been doing things with her family — especially with the brother who attained his Eagle rank the same year she did.

“Getting to do that with my brother was just really nice and to do Scouting with family,” Mensen said. “It's a big plus, and a big thing that keeps us in Scouting is that it's a family activity for us.”

Scouts changed

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Girls were welcomed into the Northeast Council Boy Scout program — and nationally — seven years ago at the elementary school level, with middle school and high school-aged girls welcomed six years ago, according to Bobis, the council’s executive and CEO and an Eagle Scout himself.

Before that, girls were not eligible to become Eagle Scouts but could advance through the ranks of Girl Scouts of America, a separate organization. Girls now make up about 20 percent of the Northeast Council membership, Bobis said.

Mensen’s Eagle Scout achievement, he said, is “a culmination of what we're trying to do in Scouting, which is to provide leadership opportunities and character building for building future leaders. ”

“The journey is just as important as this achievement, but we're super excited to show that young women can achieve what young men can, and they're on equal footing,” he said.

As of June 2023, more than 5,000 girls have achieved the Eagle rank.

Mensen is a “pioneer,” Bobis said.

“There are other young ladies who are close, but she’s the example to look up to and that’s pretty cool,” he said. “A big thing about Scouting is overcoming challenges and working with the leaders to find ways around those challenges … and I think she did a wonderful job doing that.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; olivia.cohen@thegazette.com