With the release of an Arrow of Light, a glowing spark signifies each Cub Scout becoming a new member of the Scouts BSA Troop 294 on Vashon Island.

The most recent Crossover Ceremony, held March 27, also had another shining detail.

For the first time in its nearly 100-year history, Troop 294 welcomed two female scouts. In total, eight new scouts are joining the existing seven members, ranging in age from 10 or 11 years old to almost 18.

“It’s the biggest change … Scouting has pretty consistent rules and it’s a very traditional organization. There haven’t been a lot of changes, besides recording things online instead of books, over the past 100 years,” said Karen Boyle, committee chair of Troop 294. “Having girls join traditional BSA is big and when you’ve done the same thing for 95 years, it is a big change.”

Scouts BSA, formerly known as Boy Scouts, is a youth organization focused on outdoor adventure skills building, and leadership and character development. The organization began accepting girls in February 2019.

At that time, Vashon Island’s Troop 294 didn’t have any girls asking to join quite yet and conversations about starting a girls’ troop were in the early stages, said Boyle. The pandemic brought plans to a halt.

“It really was key to us … with the troop having such a long history on the Island, it’s just incredible. And I think the girls wanted to be part of that,” Boyle said. “They didn’t want to be a separate organization.”

Vashon’s Troop 294B and 294G each have a scoutmaster, however, the meetings, activities and most operations are all done together as one troop. Though Scouts BSA looks at them as two different troops, they remain under the same organization.

The Troop’s scoutmaster, Michael Danielsen, is stepping down in spring after a long history of scouting. Taking over the role as the boys’ scoutmaster is Andrew Casad, whose son is another new scout and former cub scout. Devon DeLapp, whose daughter is one of the first female scouts, is the girls’ scoutmaster.

Another milestone change is the welcoming of the first female Cubmaster of Pack 275, Jennifer Gogarten.

Gogarten is also a volunteer EMT with Vashon Island Fire and Rescue and a professor of public health genetics at the University of Washington. She began as a tiger partner and then became an assistant den leader, committee chair, den leader, and assistant Cubmaster before taking on the Cubmaster title.

Approximately 35 kids from kindergarten through fifth grade participate in Pack 275. As Cubmaster, Gogarten coordinates events for the whole pack, runs monthly meetings, organizes programming and ensures each den of cub scouts is working together.

“To me, it’s significant because I really strongly believe that scouting is important for all young people, regardless of gender,” Gogarten said. And, she added, it helps when young people can see leaders who look like them.

None of the Scouts’ values are specific to gender identity, sexual orientation or gender expression, she said.

However, some people may have hard-set ideas of what a scout or pack leader should look like, and Gogarten said conversations deconstructing those ideas are important, serving as a reminder that scouting values apply to all young people.

“It’s a unit that involves everybody,” she said.

Gogarten and her wife, Stephanie, have been involved with Scouts BSA for seven years with their five kids. Stephanie Gogarten also helped to finalize the allowance of female scouts to the older troop.

Similar to many families on the island, Gogarten said siblings often tag along to events and meetings as scouting is about the whole community.

“In some ways, it hasn’t changed who’s at scout events, it’s only changed who is getting credit for being there,” Gogarten said of allowing female scouts.

As the first two female troops aged out of Cub Scouts, they, and the other new members, participated in the Crossover and Arrow of Light ceremony last month — an island tradition since 1992 where longtime Scouts leader Kevin Britz has members shoot an arrow, igniting a short, bursting flame.

Brtiz was a Troop 294 scout from 1967-1974. His mother was almost the first female Scoutmaster around 1969, he said, when the troop was left scoutmaster-less for some time. The Troop Committee hatched a plan and his mother Patricia registered under “Pat.”

While the application process was underway, a man from the Chief Seattle Council called the Britz’s home to finalize the application, asking for Pat. One of Kevin Britz’s siblings got their mother and Pat informed the man that she was, in fact, Pat. With expletives, Kevin Britz says, the man told her there was no way a woman could be a Scoutmaster and hung up the phone.

Kevin Britz became the Scoutmaster for six years in 1992. Now, he is the district unit commissioner for the Aquila District of Chief Seattle Council and helps with all scouting on the island.

The island’s troop, formed in 1924, is sponsored by the Vashon Island Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). To accept female scouts, the sponsor organization had to agree to the change, said Karen Boyle.

“They (the girls) wanted to be part of Troop 294 and its history … and the VFW recognized that,” she added. “Eventually we all got to a ‘Yes, this is the way we should go’ … this is the right thing to do.”

The decision to allow female scouts came to the attention of VFW members about two years ago, said Mike Mattingly, commander of Vashon’s VFW Post. Mattingly served in the U.S. Navy submariner service, where he ended his service time as a sonar technician submariner third class.

“For the last two years we’ve been going over it … and getting used to the idea,” Mattingly said. “We saw that it was going to happen and we had to decide if we were going to join the movement or not.”

As the sponsor of the troop, the VFW is responsible for overseeing the troop, offering guidance and attending events and activities, among other roles. Mattingly and many other VFW members are former Boy Scouts themselves.

“We made a decision to take the step and give them the opportunity,” he said. “It’s a new adventure for the scouts and [we] hope they can manage. We’re there for them.”

Nearing 100 years of service and skill on Vashon, Troop 294 has a rich past on the island. The first BSA Troop began in 1915, the Burton Troop. This group later merged with the Vashon Troop, formed in 1924, to create what would be known as Troop 294 in the 1970s, according to troop history documents. The island’s history also includes Campfire Girls and Girl Scouts troops, throughout the years.

Throughout the years, the Scouts have taken part in helping Vashon residents and building community, according to historian Bruce Haulman. Gatherings such as Monday evening dinners also raised money for the Scouts. In the mid-1930s, the Troop hosted a Bean Dinner and raised funds to renovate the cabin housing the organization.

In 1936, an 84-year-old man who went missing near Wax Orchard Road SW was found two days later in Seattle. Island Scouts and law enforcement searched the woods, but never found out how the man reached the other side of the water.

A few years later in 1939, scouts of the Burton Troop also helped protect acreage during a brush fire on the Burton Peninsula.

In the present day, each year a group of Scouts are sent to BSA summer camps and participate in many volunteer projects for the betterment of island communities.

Since its inception, 103 Scouts have earned the rank of Eagle Scout for Troop 294.

“For the community, I think it does give the young girls on the island another activity and opportunity,” Boyle said.

The boys of the Troop were consulted of the change and agreed, it was no problem to let the girls join, Boyle said. It was no different than mixed-gender classrooms at school.

With a decline in members in recent years, the change also helps rejuvenate the organization and include more people in the wilderness and leadership skills learning.

“We’re really supposed to let the youth lead the way,” Boyle said. “They said ‘it’s not an issue,’ and [we] honor what they say.”

Troop 294 meets at the Vashon Sportsmen’s Club on Monday evenings. To get involved, visit www.beascout.scouting.org.