Eagle Scout designs boxes for Robotics Team

By: 
Lisa Ingebrand, Montgomery Messenger

Alexandria Watts, 18, has earned her Eagle Scout rank from the Boy Scouts of America. As part of her Eagle Scout project, she designed and built rolling storage and transport boxes for TCU’s Robotics Team. (Lisa Ingebrand photo)

Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America. The coveted achievement must be reached before the age of 18, and usually takes six years for scouts to meet all of the specific requirements, which makes Alexandria Watts’ achievement all the more impressive.

Watts joined Boy Scouts as soon as the organization opened to girls in 2019 and managed to earn Eagle Scout honors in just two and a half years.

“It was a lot of work,” the 18-year-old Tri-City United High School senior stated. “I wouldn’t recommend trying to get it done in such a short time, but I had to do it that way if I wanted it.”

Watts is the daughter of Brian and Nancy Zellner and has been an active member of Lonsdale’s Boy Scout Troop 327, a troop led by her scoutmaster mom.

“I’m so proud of all the girls in my troop. They are the first batch of girls—the inaugural class—to earn Eagle Scout honors,” Scoutmaster Zellner said. “It takes a lot of work. They had to get the 13 Eagle-required merit badges, plus eight additional merit badges, to acquire the necessary 21 merit badges.”

To make matters more interesting, the girls couldn’t use their past experiences in the Scouts of America’s coed Venturing program in their drive to earn their Eagle rank.

“They had to redo a lot of stuff—the cooking merit badge, the five-mile hike, and they had to start a fire in front of me. None of what the girls did in Venturing crossed over,” explained Zellner, who previously served as Assistant Scout Master for her younger son’s troop before becoming a Scout Master in 2019. “It was a bit frustrating, but we made it work.”

As part of her Eagle Scout project, Watts designed and...

To see more on this story pick up the February 25, 2021 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger. 

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