One of the first group of girls in the U.S. who are candidates for what was historically only a boy’s achievement, Eagle Scout, conducted her Eagle project work session Saturday.
Eagle Scout candidate Sara Steurer of Haubstadt is a blur, rushing around the work site of her project, making sure every detail is covered, every one of her workers taken care of.
She says to one of the scouts helping, “Do you have your work gloves? Do you want some?”
They’re renovating part of a large children’s play area- an ambitious project, even by Eagle Scout standards.
“I mean this is a kid that would show up to a camp out at midnight just to get the camp out in because she had choir, or theater or something like that, archery. It’s just unreal to see her effort paying off at the end now.”
That’s Chris Paul, scoutmaster of troop G374 of the Buffalo Trace Council, Sara’s troop. The “G” stands for Girls. It is an all-girl scout troop formed as soon as Scouts BSA allowed it in February of 2019. Since then, Sara and a few others have worked to become part of the inaugural group of female Eagle Scouts. Because of some service requirements, 2020 is the first year that’s possible.
Paul says, “That’s what an Eagle Scout project is, to finally fulfill that leadership position that you’ve been trained for, all those merit badges and ranks you went through, to give you confidence that you can do things on your own and lead people.”
“It has a special meaning because I want to show that all through history girls have been set as, not lower, but not as superior as men. This is helping set that equality. It’s really nice to show it and it’s not in your face. It’s awesome that I get to do this.”
And that’s Sara, who’s leading the team of over thirty scouts, family members and neighbors on the project.
“We spent two days pressure washing." Steurer says, "We did the sidewalk and on the stone too. And then we did a day of sealing. This past Thursday, we did the mortar and put in a fence post to hold chalk. Yesterday, we painted the rock. There’s lettering and little flowers on the rock. We painted those because they were getting faded and stuff.”
It's the last day of spring under clear skies. The setting is the beautifully landscaped grounds of Resurrection Catholic School.
Diane: “She would have been sixteen this year, a junior at Mater Dei. ”
That’s Diane Murphy. The area of the school’s playground being renovated is called Kendall’s Korner.
“I’m Kendall’s mom. She became very sick and was sent home from Resurrection School on a Tuesday, just normal childhood symptoms. By Saturday, she was very ill. We had her admitted. She was Lifeflighted to Kosair where she passed away two days later. May 24, 2011 was when she passed away.”
It was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, contracted through a tick bite while playing in the family’s back yard on Evansville's West Side.
“I don’t think there’s a day that goes by at my house or even at work (that it doesn't affect me). I worked there 23 years and most of my co-workers I’ve worked with ten to twenty years, so I was working there when it happened. They know when I’m having a bad day and they leave me alone and do whatever they can.”
“We both work in occupational therapy (At Ascension St. Vincent Evansville) and I’ve worked since I was pregnant with Sara eighteen years ago.”
One of those co-workers is Karen Steurer, Sara’s mom. During those busy days of early parenthood while Karen and Diane worked together, both the Steurer and Murphy families used the hospital’s day care so the moms could have their daughters close by.
Sara “We’d do a lot of things at day care together. We’d make s’mores together in the microwave, we’d watch a movie, we had water days, biking days. All I can think of is that we were really good friends. It just hurt a lot when she passed away.”
By this point, the strong, confident leader and mentor to younger scouts, rising senior at Gibson Southern High School had a reliable resource show up to help her with the rest of the interview.
“Diane said you started crying."
"Can you help out, mom. What do you remember?"
"They would dance around together and play on the tumbling mats in our basement, spend a lot of time at daycare together, who knows what all trouble they could have gotten into.”
Sara “I’ve gotten really close to the girls in the troop. We do a lot of crazy things together, laughing. I just wish she could be here."
Sometimes, you can’t do anything to ease the pain of losing a friend, and sometimes you can. Sometimes, you find a way to reach out, take her hand and dance one more time.
