4 days Ago
Cayla Laughter is a 13-year-old Eagle Scout, but says the accomplishment is just one step on her intended path. “I want to be a cardiovascular surgeon,” said Cayla, a seventh grader at Langley-Bath-Clearwater Middle School. Cayla’s Eagle Scout rank was awarded in February by Scouts BSA, the flagship program of Scouting America.
Formerly Boy Scouts, the organization changed its name and began accepting troops of girls in 2019. She became a Scout at age 10 and has earned 42 merit badges, but is continuing to work toward earning all 139. “I enjoy the merit badges because I love learning new things.
There’re so many things that I never really thought I would learn. Like chess, for example. I would not have learned chess if there had not been a merit badge,” she said.
She’s continuing in Scouting by participating as a Sea Explorer in Sea Scout Ship 71, working toward the rank of Quartermaster. When she turns 14 she’ll become a Sea Scout and also begin working toward the Summit rank in Venturing, a co-educational program for ages 14-20 that focuses on adventure, leadership, personal growth and service. “With the path she’s on, she’ll attain both those ranks by the time she’s 18.
And those will open doors for college scholarships,” said Dusty Dawson, the leader of Sea Scout Ship 71. “Cayla, from the time I met her, has been very driven. She’d say, ‘I want to do this merit badge,’ and I’d say ‘Great, let’s set up a time to talk about it,’ and she’d say, ‘Well, I already have the merit badge done.
Can you read my paperwork and approve it?’ I’d sit down and take a look at it and, sure enough, she’d got it done,” Dawson said. “She came in prepared. That’s the whole thing about Scouts: Be Prepared.
And for her to be 13 and already an Eagle Scout, that’s quite an accomplishment,” he said. Dawson was Cayla’s coach for her Eagle Scout project, which was inspired by Cayla’s conversations with Julie Bush, a volunteer from the South Carolina Bluebird Society who monitors bluebird boxes on the North Augusta Greeneway and on the campus of Cayla’s middle school. “Cayla and I met several times this fall and talked about what the bluebirding experience was about and what I did here last year with the sixth grade students in monitoring the boxes, and I could tell that she was getting excited about it so we kicked around different ideas of what would be a good project,” Bush said.
“I like learning about different things, and I just thought this was interesting,” Cayla said. Cayla organized and directed a pancake breakfast at American Legion Post 71 in North Augusta to raise money for the project, which involved buying materials for building and installing bluebird boxes on the L-B-C Middle School campus. The breakfast raised nearly $1,000, which was more than was needed for the project, so Cayla is donating the remaining $590 to the South Carolina Bluebird Society.
Members of her troop pitched in to assemble and install the nesting boxes along the path Cayla mapped out. She said the biggest challenge in the project was “organizing everything and being in charge of people and directing them.” “It was a lot of work,” she said.
“Cayla was in charge of the whole thing. She organized everything and it was fantastic,” said Glenn Hendry, vice president of the South Carolina Bluebird Society. “She was the project manager,” Hendry said.
“It was really a great day. We had beautiful weather and the kids worked really hard.” Now that the bluebird trail is in place, Cayla and others will monitor the 10 nesting boxes and report the information to the South Carolina Bluebird Society, which shares it with the Ornithology Lab at Cornell University.
“They have to go on a weekly basis and open the boxes and look and see if there's a nest, and if there's eggs, count the eggs. And if there's babies, count the babies. And when the babies fly away, they clean that box out, and typically the mother bluebird will start all over again,” Hendry said.
“They also have specific forms that we provide that they fill out for their observations and then they report the data back to the Bluebird Society. We have over 1,000 boxes that we're monitoring,” he said. “The Bluebird Society is a great organization, and I think more people should be educated about bluebirds,” Cayla said.
“I’m going to continue to take care of the boxes for the bluebirds.” Cayla said earning her Eagle Scout rank informs other aspects of her life. “I enjoyed the leadership aspects of it, learning how to lead and be a part of that.
And I carried it on through my school and everything I do,” she said. She’s on the Student Council and in the BETA Club, assists disabled students in the Buddy Club, participates in Fellowship of Christian Athletes, plays volleyball at her middle school and is on the junior varsity soccer team at South Aiken High. Next year she’ll apply to attend the Aiken Scholars Academy, but plans to continue working toward her goals in Scouting of earning Quartermaster rank in Sea Scouts and Summit rank in Venturing.
“It’s a wonderful experience for any young person who wants to get involved in leadership. It’s very interesting. You learn a lot of life skills.
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