ORLANDO, Fla. – A Winter Park High School student can now add Eagle Scout to her resume.
Not only is 17-year-old Amelia Skena a Boy Scout, she’s also been a Girl Scout since kindergarten. While she loves the Girl Scouts program, her love of the outdoors pushed her to become a Boy Scout, too.
“I went backpacking twice at the Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico,” Skena said. “And I feel like it’s just a new, like, skillset that a lot of people don’t have that I really, like, appreciate because I, like, you know, like, it’s fun. Like, ‘Oh I know how to build a fire, I know how to do my Lark’s Head Knot — certain things like that.”
Skena recently earned the highest honors for both programs: the Gold Award for Girl Scouts and Eagle Scout status for Boy Scouts.
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“Honestly, the thing is, like, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, like, getting that was never felt like a chore to me,” Skena said. “So that was, like, a good part.”
For her Gold Award, Skena worked with Army of Angels to set up what she calls Angel Carts as a way to provide school supplies to children in need.
“Some kids were even, like, getting zeros on assignments because they need headphones for their computers, and they didn’t have any, and then they couldn’t hear the assignment that they needed,” Skena said.
As for her Eagle Scout project, Skena helped out a different group in need — elderly lemurs.
“They’re getting too old for, like, the robes and like the fun, like little jungle gym courses they had set up,” Skena said. “So my job was to create platforms, so they could still get their exercise and it not be, like, a hassle for them.”
Skena only joined Boy Scouts three-and-a-half years ago, making her Eagle Scout accomplishment all the more impressive.
“I’m always, like, kind of competing with myself,” Skena said.
Skena is also part of the International Baccalaureate program at Winter Park High School, the flag football team and the Beta club. While at times life became hectic, she said her time as a scout taught her that hard work pays off.
“I went to Philmont, like, the whole, like, premise around it is, like, this too will pass,” Skena said. “So that’s kind of, like, the mentality that I’ve had, like, well, it’s like hard now, but it’ll be worth it.”
After she graduates, Skena will attend Duke University to study political science and film.
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