Photo By Jenn DeHaan | Zopfi hangs out with the chickens she raises. She plans to work with animals and focus...... read more read more
Jenn DeHaan | Fort Knox News
FORT KNOX, Ky. – About a thousand girls nationwide can say they were the first females in history to achieve Eagle Scout – a teen in Central Kentucky stands among them.
Miranda Zopfi, daughter of V Corps Inspector General Col. Michael Zopfi and his wife Deana, earned the highest Boy Scouts of America honor in the inaugural class, which was acknowledged in February.
She had signed up when the Scouts first opened to girls two years ago.
The BSA reports since its inception only 2% of all Scouts ever earn the Eagle rank, which places Zopfi in a historically elite class in and of itself. She is the only one in her troop of nine girls and in the greater Fort Knox area to attain it.
Zopfi said thinking of her start in Boy Scouts is something she and her family recall with humor because her journey began with a friend not wanting to attend the first local meeting alone.
“She asked me to just come sit with her,” said Zopfi, who had no intention of joining at the time.
Zopfi said the scoutmaster then came over to them and asked her friend, “This is your fifth person to sign up?”
Realizing they needed five to get a troop started, Zopfi said she no longer hesitated: “I guess I’m committed!”
Committing to accomplishing lofty goals is nothing new for Zopfi. At the time she had joined Boy Scouts, she was also in the process of completing her Girl Scout Gold.
“[Gold] is technically like the Eagle equivalent in Girl Scouts,” said Zopfi.
Signing up for Boy Scouts in the midst of that meant a lot of hard work if hitting Eagle was going to be attainable, she said. She was 15 years old at the time.
“It was a lot of cramming because you age out of Boy Scouts at 18,” said Zopfi, explaining it takes just shy of two years to complete everything needed to make Eagle Scout – assuming a person is hitting every mark for rank advancement at the minimum required dates.
Zopfi said she had one advantage going into her marathon for Eagle: she was armed with the skills she had gained from Girl Scouts.
“[I was] signing up for every single thing I could do to try and get all the requirements I could meet,” said Zopfi. She explained the only way to go after what she wanted was with an “‘I’m going to get Eagle’ kind of mindset.”
Throughout the process, Zopfi said the weight of her historic journey was always on her mind.
“I knew we were representing girls in this, and we have to make a good first impression,” said Zopfi. “If people feel like this was a bad decision, we’re ruining it for future scouts coming in that are girls.”
Each Eagle Scout is responsible for scheduling their own Court of Honor ceremony. Zopfi said she will have hers in May when many of her family members can attend.
Zopfi said she works to encourage other girls to join the Scouts, and when they do, “go in there expecting excellency and you’ll reach it.”
As she turns her attention toward preparing for high school graduation, her scouting achievement is never far from her thoughts.
“I think Boy Scouts will always continue to be with me, even as I grow up,” said Zopfi. “I’m always going to carry what I learned.”
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.16.2021 13:40 |
| Story ID: | 391505 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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