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First Maryland Girls Reach Eagle Scout Rank

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Becoming an Eagle Scout takes hard work, and for the first time in Maryland, a group of young women received this honor, the first females ever to do so in the state.

For Lauren Krimm and so many other girls, scouting was a family tradition reserved solely for the boys.

"My little brother was a scout since he was in second grade," Krimm said. "My dad's an Eagle Scout, my uncle's an Eagle Scout.

But in 2019, Boy Scouts, now called Scouts BSA, opened its ranks to girls.

"When I got the chance to join, I just jumped at the chance," Krimm said.

This month, Krimm was among 17 young women to become the first female Eagle Scouts in Maryland, all of them from Baltimore.

"Nothing was changed for us," Krimm said. "We worked our butts off to get here just like all the boys before us have done."

Twins Sierra and Dayna Rohmann said they would sit on the sidelines during their brother's scout meetings and wanted to join in.

"It looked so fun and they were learning all these cool skills like knots," they said.

Getting to Eagle Rank takes at least 21 merit badges, a large service project and a commitment to leadership. Only 6% of scouts ever make it.

"One of the hardest things for any young person to do is to give leadership to their peers," Kenn Miller, Baltimore Area Council CEO, Scouts BSA, said.

Maryland's first female Eagle Scouts are paving the way for many more young women to come.

"By being able to get Eagle and break those boundaries, we proved that we can do it and we will do it and there's nothing they can do to stop us," Krimm said.

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