‘CHAOTIC ADVENTURE’

McKayla Graves can describe her path to becoming an Eagle Scout in two words: chaotic adventure.

That may be true, she admitted, but it didn’t prevent her from becoming the first female to attain Scouting’s highest honor in the Wakpaota District of Gamehaven Council, which covers multiple counties in southeast Minnesota.

Tayla Gurtner, of the Hiawatha District, was the first female Eagle Scout in the Council.

A different option

Graves watched an older sister join Girl Scouts, “but I was not really in the mood of selling cookies,” she said, quickly adding, “we still do fundraising, just like the Girl Scouts do, but we do a lot of other events, too.”

Her “chaotic adventure” was laid out for those attending her Eagle Scout Court of Honor late last month at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Owatonna.

Scoutmaster Eric Reuss said much of what happened that day wouldn’t have been possible “without motorcycles and Mexican food.”

His parents and brother are members of the church’s motorcycle group, Reuss said, and invited him along to dinner at Plaza Morena one evening in 2019.

“It was free food, which is hard to pass up as a 22-year-old guy,” he said.

Also there was Jenny Richter, Graves’ mother.

“She was trying to find an activity for McKayla to get involved in, because she wanted to get out of dance,” Reuss said.

His own mom pointed at him, and the rest is history.

She was the third Scout to join Troop 355, a new, all-female troop that had organized on the heels of a change to the Boy Scouts of America, allowing girls and renaming itself Scouting America.

It was the minimum number needed to keep a troop active; others eventually joined, but had Graves not been the third, “we might have had to fold, and none of us would be here right now,” Reuss said.

“That just shows how small and seemingly insignificant decisions can lead to something great,” he said. “If I hadn’t gone to that dinner for the free food, Jenny may not have learned about Scouting and McKayla may not have joined the troop, let alone become an Eagle Scout.”

Knots and lashes

Less than 7% of Scouts become an Eagle Scout, which has multiple requirements throughout the years of membership.

There are merit badges to be earned – a minimum of 21. Graves earned 55, including six the night before her Eagle Scout paperwork was due.

Reuss, himself an Eagle Scout, said Graves wanted to beat his total of 51 badges.

What she didn’t know is that she also topped Gurtner’s total of 54.

“In all, she has completed approximately 1,313 different requirements – and yes, we counted them,” said Lindsay Ranschau, a member of Graves’ Eagle Scout Board of Review.

It spanned seven ranks, those merit badges, 77 nights of camping, 102 hours of service for rank requirements and nearly 285 hours for her Eagle Scout service project – building a gaga ball pit on the playground of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

When other Scouts struggled with things like knots and lashes, Reuss said, Graves was the first to help.

Becoming an Eagle Scout, he said, “is a challenge that will push you to your boundaries, then go beyond them to make you grow as a person. To me, the main purpose of Scouting is character development.

“To McKayla, the purpose is to gain life skills and to have never-ending fun.”

Setting a goal

It took just under seven years to achieve her Eagle rank, but Graves did it just in time.

Scouts must complete it by their 18^th birthday. Graves got hers May 2, and turned 18 a week later.

“It wasn’t really a goal until about halfway through my Scouting journey,” she said, “because I (initially) just saw Scouting as a fun extracurricular. I’ve always liked doing multiple different things, and Scouting always provided that for me.”

She realized the idea of earning merit badges “wasn’t knots and lashes all the time; we do other things, a mix of life skills and just fun things to do, right?” Graves said. “That’s kind of what drew me into Scouting, the fact that it’s more than just one individual thing.

She isn’t finished, either, though she’s headed to the University of Wisconsin-Stout this fall after a four-week study abroad in Scotland.

“I have really enjoyed Scouting so much that I’ll stay with the troop as an adult leader,” she said, with a goal of achieving her Order of the Arrow.

“I feel the knowledge I’ve gained from doing my projects … has really given me a lot of information and a ton of skills,” Graves said. “I have learned so many things that I never thought I would learn, and it’s been so much fun.”

Real growth

Richter, her mom, joined Scouting in 2022; her husband joined after Graves’ first year in the troop.

“She went from quiet, shy, very much introverted, to very much more open socially,” Richter said. “She started expanding into other things, and being more open.”

According to several other adults in Graves’ life, her mother is right.

“It took just a few short years for McKayla to undergo a remarkable transformation,” Ranschau said, “from someone who struggled to memorize the Oath and Law to someone who lives those words every day; from someone who simply wanted to go camping to someone who has spent countless nights in the outdoors; from someone who needed to be led to someone who now leads others.”

When Ranschau was a girl, “Scouting looked very different. I watched from the outside as boys had opportunities to camp, lead, earn merit badges and someday become Eagle Scouts.”

Those opportunities, she said, weren’t available to girls at that time.

“That’s one reason it is such an honor to stand here today and recognize McKayla, not only for becoming an Eagle Scout, but for becoming the first Eagle Scout for Troop 355 and the first female Eagle Scout for Wakpaota District in Gamehaven Council.

“What makes this so special is that she didn’t become the first by accident. She became the first through hard work, perseverance, leadership, service and a commitment to the ideals of Scouting,” Ranschau said.

“She has set a standard and opened a door that many others will now follow…

“As Committee Chair, I could not be more proud of McKayla,” Ranschau said. “It has been an honor to watch her grow, to witness her determination and to see her reach this milestone.

“Years from now, there will be many female Eagle Scouts in our Troop and District, but there will only ever be one first.”