Something Good: Edmond Memorial Senior Part Of First Female Eagle Scout Class

A pandemic isn’t exactly perfect circumstances to become an Eagle Scout, whether you’re a guy or girl, but Elana Barker wasn’t going to let that stop her.

“It shows that even if there’s something hard going on, that I can still go out there and show them who’s boss," said Barker, a senior at Edmond Memorial High School.

Elana’s risen through the ranks like a boss. She always wanted to join her brother in the Boy Scouts, but that wasn’t possible until February 2019 when the organization allowed girls to join in separate troops.

“I tagged along with my brother to scout meetings. And then once they announced girls could be joining, I jumped right on that,” she said.

Elana joined the Last Frontier Council Troop 6079, with her mom Susan as scout master.

Elana had her eye on becoming an Eagle Scout.

Having gone to Will Rogers Elementary School, she knew exactly what she wanted to do for her service project.

“Even before I could officially join scouts, coming here and restoring the butterfly garden was always the very first thing I thought of. I thought why not give the teachers a space where they could have classes outdoors.”

Elana’s idea blossomed into reality last fall after three months of hard work.

Two years after joining Scouts BSA, Elana became a member of the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts, one of four in the Last Frontier Council.

“I wanted to show girls that they can do it too, because they might see their dad or their brother in scouts or be an eagle and think that they can’t do that. They might see me or see the other girls who have eagled, and think, 'Wow, I can really do that.'”