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Girls will be able to enter a variety of Boy Scout programs.
Girls will be able to enter a variety of Boy Scout programs.
In a historic shift, the Boy Scouts of America will welcome girls into an array of Scouting programs.

    The organization’s board of directors voted Oct. 11 -- the International Day of the Girl -- to allow girls into the Cub Scout program and to allow older girls to advance, even earning the highest rank, Eagle Scout.
    The decision was in response to years of requests from families and girls, according to a statement published on the organization’s website. “We believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the needs of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their children,"  said Michael Surbaugh, chief scout executive. "We strive to bring what our organization does best -- developing character and leadership for young people -- to as many families and youth as possible as we help shape the next generation of leaders.”
     Some groups prefer to participate in activities as a family, the news release pointed out.
     In the past, the Scouts have offered some programs for older girls -- specifically, Venturers and Sea Scouts for boys and girls ages 14-20, and Exploring, a coed program for ages 10-20. But beginning in the 2018 program year, girls or boys can sign up for the Cub Scouts, the news release said. The Cub Scout dens will continue to be single gender, but packs can establish a new girl pack, or have a pack that consists of girl dens and boy dens. Packs can also remain all-boy. 
    The organization also envisions a program for older girls that will begin in 2019 and use the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts.
    The Boy Scouts have been weighing expanding their program to girls -- a prospect that reportedly unsettled the Girl Scouts. In August, the news website BuzzFeed reported that Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, national board president of Girl Scouts of the USA, sent the letter to Randall Stephenson, national president of the Boy Scouts of America, accusing the Boy Scouts of a “covert campaign to recruit girls into programs run by the Boy Scouts.”


    Related:

    Boy Scouts lift ban on gay adult leaders

    Canadian Girl Scouts scrap U.S. travel
  
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