First Latina female Eagle Scout in troop’s 76-Year history

Celeste Rios, a Saugus High School graduate and a sophomore at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), is known for going “above and beyond” in everything she does. At 14 years of age, she broke another barrier by becoming the first female Eagle Scout in her community.

It all started a couple of months before the pandemic when Rios’ parents decided to take her brother Juan back into the Boy Scouts of America, which eventually led them to find out that girls could  join the organization too. 

Adriana saw her daughter's passion for the outdoors as a perfect opportunity to join the organization, now known as Scouts BSA, seeing as how she had shown an interest in nature from a very young age. “We have a family tradition of going on a camp out every year even before scouting, and so I would always want to bring back little creatures and like to study them,” Rios said. 

When Rios joined the Scouts, she steadily rose through the ranks and earned 43 merit badges, more than the amount required to achieve the prestigious Eagle Scout rank at Troop 94 in Sylmar.

The Eagle Scout ranking is widely regarded as the pinnacle achievement in scouting, representing the accumulation of earning merit badges in a variety of categories, such as communication, emergency preparedness, environmental sustainability and more, but for Rios, that achievement was of more personal significant for her. “Not only was I the first female Eagle Scout in my troop, but at that point, I had been one of the only girls to go to the Scout meetings consistently, and so I felt oftentimes like it was just me as the only girl in my troop,” she said.

Since Rios has always been good with nature, she saw that as an opportunity to prove herself that she could also be a good leader as well. “I was super good at my nature skills; I was just great at Scouting, and that meant a lot to me, especially in such a male-dominated space,” she said. 

One of the challenges that Rios faced as the only female Scout was having to wait around for the program to recruit female leaders so that she could earn some of her merit badges. Scout BSA had rules that at least two female adult leaders were there when Rios was taking classes.

Rios said she feels honored to have earned the distinction of being the first female Eagle Scout in Troop 94's nearly eight-decade history. However, Rios added that she also feels sad because it reminds her that many young women in the past did not have the same opportunities.

“Even though I did face some obstacles, it was still possible for me to go above and beyond in the program. Now my cousin is involved in scouting, and we are able to bring more girls into the troop. I see how life-changing it is for these girls to see someone believe in them and encourage and nurture them into learning more about nature,” Rios said. She is also glad that more Latinos and Latinas are being involved with scouting programs and summer camps.

Rios’ involvement in scouting has been rewarding and educational, providing her with hands-on experience related to her future career goals in wildlife biology. Recently, she completed a prestigious internship with the U.S. Forest Service, where her scouting background gave her a distinct advantage over her peers. Scouting has also provided Rios with the right experience to get her first job as a summer camp counselor. Her end goal is to eventually work doing research in national parks or with the state doing conservation work for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Now that Rios is 19 years old, she has officially aged out of Scout BSA’s youth scouting program, but she plans to continue working with the organization as an adult leader in her troop and plans to eventually join Scout BSA’s Venturing scouting program, which is for adults ages 18 to 21.

After becoming the first female Eagle Scout in her troop’s long history, Rio’s story is not just about breaking barriers but also about the power of perseverance and Latino community support. “I would just like to say to other people to keep believing in who you are because you are more capable than anyone else.You just need determination and the drive to just keep going because ultimately, I know it's cliche, but the only person that can stop you is yourself. You just have to keep asking questions, keep finding out solutions, and keep learning. I hope all Latinos and Latinas are able to achieve their goals,” Rios said.