Girl blazes trail in rechristened Scouts

SAN FRANCISCO -- At her first Cub Scout meeting, Jordan Fong was the only girl with ``a bunch of boys.''

``I was like, I don't know if I could get used to this,'' the 8-year-old said. ``Usually in my school, I hang out with girls a lot.''

Jordan also loves to be outside hiking and camping -- what she calls adventures -- and she likes a challenge.

So when Cub Scout Troop 47 learned how to tie a square knot that first meeting in March, Jordan picked up the rope and was the first done. Then the group -- which was getting ready for a big camping trip in May -- played games and sang songs.

Jordan was hooked. The San Francisco third grader had sat on the sidelines for years watching her brother have fun as a Boy Scout and she wanted in.

Until January, that was impossible.

In a landmark policy shift, the Boy Scouts of America announced in October that the 118-year-old organization would allow girls to join for the first time. Girls and their families have requested the change for years, said the organization and has seen declining membership. Membership is at 2.3 million Scouts, down from 2.7 million in 2010.

For now, girls can join single-gender ``dens'' that are part of a co-ed troop in the Cub Scouts, the precursor to Boy Scouts. Within a year, programs for older girls will phase in, allowing females to ultimately earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout.

``Early adopter'' girls, like Jordan, are typically siblings or friends of Boy Scouts, said Tim Welty, of the Boy Scouts of America San Francisco Bay Area Council.

So far, 28 girls participate in Cub Scouts in Alameda and San Francisco counties, with a full national rollout of the plan on June 11.

The decision has no effect on the Girl Scouts, a separate organization that continues to operate as a leadership development program for girls across the country.

The Boy Scouts' ``record of producing leaders with high character and integrity is amazing,'' said Randall Stephenson, the organization's national board chairman, following the October announcement. ``I've seen nothing that develops leadership skills and discipline like this organization. It is time to make these outstanding leadership development programs available to girls.''

This week, Boy Scout officials went even further, removing the word ``boy'' from Boy Scouts and renaming the program ``Scouts BSA.'' The organization itself will continue to be called Boy Scouts of America.

Girl Scout officials say they support the move that gives girls more options.

``For some girls and families, they're going to prefer the Boy Scout approach,'' said Marina Park, chief executive of the Girls Scouts Northern California.

What has rankled Girl Scout officials, however, is how the Boy Scouts appear to be marketing the decision: communicating to parents that they no longer have to participate in two programs because the Boy Scouts serve both genders.

The Girl Scouts aren't going anywhere, with 4,000 troops in Northern California, Park said.

``I do think we have the best program if a family is looking to develop their daughter's leadership skills,'' she said. ``We're different and we offer different things.''

Jordan had been a Girl Scout for a few years and said she still thinks it's a great program. But she said the Boy Scouts offer more chances to earn badges, pins and belt loops for performing various activities or services.

She has her eye on participating on a 100-plus-mile trek when she's 14 and eventually becoming an Eagle Scout.

``Since she was 4, she's always been wanting to (be a Boy Scout),'' said her mom Lei Fong. ``I think it's all about the fun.''

So far, Jordan has been to three Cub Scout meetings, having recruited four additional girls to create a den in the troop. She hasn't earned her first pin or badge yet, although she's memorized the Scout Law, a list of 12 characteristics Scouts should strive to achieve: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

She says her favorite, at least for the moment, is ``cheerful.''

While Jordan didn't have a meeting this week, she was eager to show off her Cub Scout uniform, with the green socks, green pants, khaki shirt and a kerchief around her neck.

She looked down at the patch on the shirt, which still read Boy Scouts of America and shrugged.

``It was originally the Boy Scouts,'' she said, adding she doesn't mind being the one of the first female Cub Scouts in the country. ``It feels a bit weird, but I'm actually kind of proud of it.''