Two Riverside girls are making history as the first girls in town who joined Cub Scouts in kindergarten and have now gone on to earn their Arrow of Light, the final rank badge given to Scouts as fifth graders.
Frances Wetzel, 11, and Hannah Condes, 10, both joined Riverside’s Pack 24 as kindergarteners in 2018, the first year girls were allowed to join Cub Scouts. Having progressed through the program and earned badges for the ranks of Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear and Webelos, the two friends are set to earn their Arrows of Light at a ceremony on Feb. 23, signifying their completion of Cub Scouts.
While two other girls will earn their Arrow of Light at the same time, Frances’ mother, Natalie Wetzel, who is a pack committee member and former chair, said they both joined the pack later on.
The girls, who met in preschool before becoming Cub Scouts together, agreed one of their favorite parts of Cub Scouts was that they got to hang out with their family, other friends and each other on their many camping trips and outdoor activities. While speaking with the Landmark, Frances and Hannah recalled trips to the Owasippe Scout Reservation in Twin Lake, Michigan, and YMCA Camp Tecumseh in Indiana where they loved to eat “walking tacos” — that is, bags of tortilla chips with taco ingredients added, all shaken up and convenient to eat on the trail.
Wetzel and Hannah’s father, George Condes, another Pack 24 leader, said the girls joined Cub Scouts because Scouting was a family affair.
“I was a Scout, and my mom was a Scout,” Wetzel said. “Because [Frances] has brothers, I thought, ‘Let’s do Cub Scouts so we can all Scout together.’”
“I did Scouting when I was a youth, and [Hannah’s] two older brothers were involved in the Scouting already. I was a leader, and I just loved the adventures and the character development that went along with Scouting. I was so excited that, at the time, they were just opening up to girls, so these are some of the first girls in our pack,” Condes said.
Girls now being allowed to join Cub Scouts and earn badges like boys means they get recognized for their dedication, Wetzel said.
“A lot of people don’t realize Cub Scouting is a family-oriented activity, so there have actually been girls coming on Cub Scouts campouts for a long time, but they weren’t actually able to earn all the awards because they couldn’t officially join,” she said.
To earn the Arrow of Light, fifth graders must complete six required “adventures,” related to subjects like first aid, personal fitness, the outdoors and more, alongside any two elective adventures. These optional badges cover specific activities or knowledge, like fishing and swimming or engineering and high-tech camping.
While both girls said they plan to continue with Scouts BSA as members of Troop 90 in LaGrange Park, Frances also has her sights set on blazing another trail: founding Troop 24G, an equivalent for girls in Riverside to boys’ existing Troop 24B, with the help of her mother.
“We’ve gotten a lot of interest, but no one willing to sign up yet, other than Frances,” said Wetzel, who plans to be a Scoutmaster for Troop 24G.
She said she and Frances chose to start the new troop so she can continue scouting with the boys in Pack 24, who will progress into Troop 24B rather than Troop 90.
Hannah will not be joining Troop 24G, as her family now lives in Oak Park, Condes said. Despite moving, she finished out her Cub Scout experience in Pack 24.
While some unfamiliar with Scouting may think families have to choose between enrolling their daughters in Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts, girls can do both, like Hannah did. She said her favorite thing about Girl Scouts was, of course, their iconic cookies.
