Coosa senior Carolyn Smyth named region’s first female Eagle Scout
The Rome Civic Center was packed Sunday as family, friends and Scout leaders from across the region honored Northwest Georgia’s first female Eagle Scout, Carolyn Smyth.
Carolyn said her interest in Scouting started very early, when her brother and two uncles joined Cub Scout Pack 20 in Cave Spring.
“I really wanted to do everything my brother and them did,” she said. “My mom would take my brother and me. She actually became the cub master when my grandfather went up to be a troop master.”
So Carolyn was right there every Monday, helping out in any way she could, and fell in love with scouting.
Her mother said Carolyn’s quick rise to Eagle status after young women were allowed to become status was a natural for her.
“Being a trailblazer is pretty phenomenal,” Gola Burton said. “Her main thing, and ours, is that now we want to make sure we want to open the door for other girls and make sure they know they can do it.”
Her grandfather, Cave Spring Troop Master Mike Burton, said Carolyn has been camping up at Camp Sidney Dew from the time she was 6 years old.
“She was up there building fires and setting up tents and cooking and hiking,” Burton said. “She was like Annie Oakley. Anything the boys could do, she could do better.”
Carolyn’s father, Robert Smyth, said if his daughter is anything, she’s a determined young lady. He said when her brother attained Eagle status she asked why she couldn’t do it.
At the time, it wasn’t allowed; but once girls became eligible, it was her major goal.
Carolyn said the toughest badges for her to earn were a series of citizenship badges.
“They were the most tedious, and about history. They weren’t hands on and I’m a very hands on person,” she said. “I started those during quarantine once COVID hit, so it was even harder to try to go out and visit a lot of places that involved those merit badges.”
Northwest Georgia Council Scout Executive Matt Hart said Carolyn’s honor is huge for the entire council.
“For over a century now we’ve been awarding Eagle Scout badges and, as rare as it is, to have our first young lady is a historic day for the Northwest Georgia Council,” Hart said. “Right now our membership is about 21% female, but this is the first young lady to get to the summit. A young lady from Cartersville is right on her heels.”