North Shore Teen Set To Join First Class Of Female Eagle Scouts

WILMETTE, IL — A meeting between a local teen on track to become one of the first female Eagle Scouts and a leader of Women's Club of Wilmette at an environmental fair in March led to a historic restoration project this week. Dozens of volunteers helped bring native species to the exterior of the clubhouse, which is preparing to reopen to the public for the first time since it was gutted by a fire five years ago.

The 129-year-old women's club — whose motto is "The Power Of Women Working Together" — provided 17-year-old New Trier High School grad Iona McQuiston the perfect opportunity to plan and execute her Eagle Scout service project as she seeks to achieve the top rank in the 110-year-old Boy Scouts of America.

Boy Scouts officials announced in February 2019 they would allow girls into the organization. Within a few months, six girls in Wilmette Troop 5G were among the first in the nation to be awarded the First Class rank. The inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts, originally planned to be honored in the fall, are expected to be named in early 2021.

McQuiston said advisor Bryan Abbott, a past scoutmaster and current Wilmette Park District commissioner, introduced her to Women's Club Co-President Edie Rowell at Go Green Wilmette's Going Green Matters event, one of the village's last large-scale public gathering before state officials declared a public health emergency in response to the spread of the coronavirus. At the time, McQuiston was looking for the right service project to embark upon. Rowell explained the club's need for new landscaping.

"I jumped at that opportunity because it sounded like someone who needed help and something that was in the scope of what I could do. And it's a pretty big project, I would say, because there's five beds and they all have specific needs, which helps vary the scope of it and make it more complex," McQuiston said. "I've had the really awesome opportunity of being able to come in and do this and bring people in, especially right now with coronavirus happening. It makes a big difference, it brings people's spirits up — it gave me something to do to keep from going absolutely insane."

Rowell explained little to no landscaping work had been done on the west and south side of the building since it was almost completely destroyed by a September 2015 fire. The installation of a fire suppression system required a tree to be removed, and the old railroad ties that held together the flower beds also had to be replaced, she said.

"There was a whole lot of non-native ground cover that it's just really good to get rid of," Rowell said. "A lot of that work had been done in 1992, and not only had outlived its purpose, but had been heavily damaged as a result of the fire. And it was behind construction fencing for about two to three years so it was very difficult to do any maintenance."

McQuiston said the cleanup turned up some remnants of the fire, which led to the collapse of the roof of the 1929-built stone portion of the building and the complete destruction of the adjoining 1910-built stick frame structure.

"We've found a lot of rubble, glass, tennis balls, plastic bottles, random plastic, old shingles from the original building," she said. "We were digging around here because we had to put this pea gravel in and there was this cast iron pipe in there, and we had to pull it out and then I found an electrical wire, so I had to hammer that down. Yeah, you get a lot of surprises but you learn to just kind of roll with it and take it as it comes."

Earlier:
Troop 5 Girls Make History
Repair Work Begins On Women's Club Of Wilmette
Fire Damages Woman's Club of Wilmette

Abbott, who has been involved with Troop 5 for the past two decades, said the local troop and council have been pushing to allow girls into the organization for years. He said he has seen young women enthusiastically adopt leadership roles in the Venturing program since it was introduced in 1998.

"To me, today is 20 years in the making, our first female Eagle Scout," Abbott said. "[You] could say Iona caught a wave that was created by a lot of people, and she represents them very well. But we had a lot of gals who were wonderful, and a lot of our crew presidents have been gals, and they come in and make it their own."

Abbott said new members of the Boy Scouts of America national board determined opening up Eagle Scout rank to all genders was necessary to keep the organization alive.

"You know, first female Eagle Scout and the Women's Club, it's like something only a screenwriter could write — amazing enthusiasm all the way around and it carried over to today," he said Thursday. "This building's been an eyesore for five years, it's really nice to see it come back, everything works, it's fun to be a part of this. My role really is to keep adults from messing it up — and they will. It's very bureaucratic, the process of getting to be an Eagle Scout."

Before starting the project, McQuiston had to submit a lengthy proposal and receive approval. A similar multi-step approval process will be needed for the 50-page after-action report needed to gain official recognition as an Eagle Scout.

Multiple shifts of volunteers showed up at the clubhouse at 930 Greenleaf Avenue throughout the day Thursday to help out with McQuiston's project. By early afternoon, a sign-in sheet had more than 40 names. At least two other aspiring members of Troop 5G's inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts also helped out.

Former Troop 5 scoutleader Eric Robison said he remains close friends with a half-dozen members of his Eagle Scout class from 64 years ago.

"Every rank requires service. That's why you've got so many scouts here," Robison said. "The scouts come to help on others' Eagle projects because they're going to have help on their Eagle project when they get there, but it's part of the service."

Pausing for a moment between directing volunteers and wielding a pickaxe, McQuiston said her time in scouting has reinforced her level of confidence in her abilities.

"There are people who will support you no matter what and there will be people who don't," McQuiston said. "My message to girls is: Go out and do whatever you want, because you are more than capable. Don't let anyone tell you, 'No.'"