Katelyn Sweeny first joined Scouting as a part of Venturing Crew 28 before becoming one of the first females to become a member of Scouts BSA in Troop 413 Girls and the first female Eagle Scout for the Daniel Morgan District. If you ask Katelyn, Scouting is what allowed her to find her confidence and helped her become the young woman she is today.
Before joining Scouts, Katelyn was shy and suffered from social anxiety. She was not even able to order her own food and drink at a restaurant. Fast forward several years later, and Katelyn was one of the council’s Masters of Ceremony at the Distinguished Citizens Dinner in Spartanburg, an event with over 400 attendees.
For Katelyn, Scouting was a bonding experience between her and her dad, Paul. Paul, is an Eagle Scout and active volunteer in the Palmetto Council. He currently serves as the Scoutmaster for Troop 413 Girls. Katelyn said spending time with her dad doing activities they both enjoyed was a a memory she will always cherish. Katelyn’s mom is also active in Scouting and participates in Troop 413 Girls.
Katelyn says her parents and her brother are the reason she kept pushing her self to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. She credits NYLT (National Youth Leadership Training) which she took part in both as a participant and as a leader as being a lifechanging experience that helped her further develop her leadership skills and build her confidence even more. Katelyn was anxious before the week of NYLT because she was going to be alone for the first time without her parents for more than a couple of days at a Scouting event. She had to make new friends as she did not know anyone else attending. Since becoming a Scout, Katelyn has served as a Youth leader for Venturing Crew 28 and Scouts BSA Troop 413 Girls.
To Katelyn, Scouting is an opportunity for young people to find themselves while learning valuable life skills. She says there were never any negatives experiences during her time in Scouts and every opportunity she was given surpassed her expectations. Her favorite trip as a Scout was to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton where her group hiked to the top of a 10,000 ft. mountain peak.
As her confidence grew through Scouting, Katelyn realized how her own voice and skill set could be used to better the community around her. For her Eagle Scout Project, she choose to build a shed for Halter, a local Horse Therapy facility and program. What started as only a mental shed to hold tools and other equipment, quickly became a wooden shed which would require a lot more time to complete. However, with the help from her fellow Scouts BSA members in Troop 413 Girls, her parents, other family members, and other volunteers, Katelyn completed the shed in a day, all that was left was the roofing, which another family member helped complete.
Over the course of her time in Scouting Katelyn overcame her shyness and discovered herself. She says she can only hope she has been a good role model for other females in Scouting and wants every other Scout to know to “Stick to it, there might be some hardships, but stick with it, and I promise Scouting will provide you with unlimited opportunities.”
Katelyn is currently a student at Spartanburg Community College, studying to be a surgical tech. She will complete the program within the next year and looks forward to what the future holds.
