NORTHFIELD — Northfield teen Amanda Edwards has accomplished something no girl could achieve just six years ago.
On May 24, the 18-year-old Mainland Regional High School student was elevated to Eagle Scout rank in Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America, at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church.
She is part of a girls troop, Troop 452G of Mays Landing, one of only two in the Jersey Shore Council of Scouting America. She is one of 10 original charter members of the troop formed in February 2019 and the sixth to achieve Eagle Scout rank.
For her Eagle Scout project, Edwards created comfort bags for the Northfield Police Department to give children when they are faced with trauma. The bags include coloring books, crayons, stuffed animals, wipes, tissues, bandages and a little blanket.
Edwards, who is headed to honors college at Rutgers University-Camden to study psychology in the fall, has been part of the National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society, the French Club and French Honor Society as well as Post Crashers, a group that supports area veterans.
She started out in Girl Scouts and “it wasn’t anything like the Boy Scouts, so I switched over when I heard I could go camping every week,” she said.
“I joined in kindergarten and in eight years we went camping once, and it was in a cabin,” she said. “I did more in the five years I was in Boy Scouts. We went camping like once a month,” Edwards said.
She follows brothers Shane, 30, Brian, 28, and Andrew, 23, all of whom earned Eagle Scout rank. Their father, Don Edwards, was their Scout Master but never had taken part in Scouting despite his father having earned Eagle Scout rank.
“I feel accomplished and that I can set my mind to something and get it done,” Edwards said.
“I’m very proud of them; it’s a wonderful program,” Don Edwards said.
Scout Master Scott Ehrlich said seven of the original 10 girls now have achieved Eagle Scout rank.
“They had a goal they set when they started the troop and many of them made it,” he said.
Ehrlich said Troop 452G is the only stand-alone female troop in the Jersey Shore Council.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
At top, recently elevated Eagle Scout Amanda Edwards poses with her family at a ceremony May 24. She follows in the footsteps of her older brothers and her grandfather as Eagle Scouts.