Fox Chapel teen becomes 1st female Eagle Scout in Western Pa.’s Laurel Highlands Council
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Katy Appleman of Fox Chapel is blazing a trail. She is the first female from Western Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands Council to earn an Eagle Scout ranking.
The Laurel Highlands Council is one of the largest in the country and includes 13 districts serving nearly 17,000 youths in Western Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia and Maryland. She is a member of the Japeechen District.
“Being the first female Eagle Scout was not my goal,” said Appleman, who officially received the rank at a ceremony Sept. 25. “But once I realized that is was possible to reach Eagle before I was 18, I definitely wanted to reach this achievement.”
After the Boy Scouts of America opened to girls in 2017, the first class of female Eagle Scouts was recognized in February.
Appleman, a member of Troop 9380 in Fox Chapel, noted that earning an Eagle Scout rank is one of the few awards a teen can receive before they’re an adult.
“I think it’s incredible to be the first woman in my region,” she said. “I hope my experience might encourage more young woman to strive toward this award as well as experience the incredible community that I found in Scouts BSA.”
A scout since 2018, Appleman decided to join after accompaning her sister to scout meetings.
“My brother was already an Eagle Scout, and I attended meetings to keep my sister company,” Appleman said.
Appleman, now 18, said she devoted time at home during the pandemic to learning about camping techniques, scout values, leadership and service.
“I attended my first real camping trip soon after joining and fell in love with it,” she said.
Troop 9380 has seven female members.
Her Eagle Scout project was a month-long mission to remove an invasive species from an acre-tract of land in North Park.
Appleman chose to eradicate an untouched-for-decades section of non-native Japanese Barberry from an area near bike trails in the park.
She learned of the plant’s negative impacts and how to remove them while completing a service requirement for her Life Scout rank.
Originally planted as a decorative plant, Japanese Barberry are very dense and block out sunlight from the forest floor, making it nearly impossible for anything else to grow.
“Another negative impact from these bushes is their ability to habor large tick populations,” Appleman said. “Since the park has a heavy foot and bike traffic, another benefit of my project to the community is the mitigation of tick transmitted diseases.”
Serving multiple terms as troop senior patrol leader has taught her valuable leadership and organization skills.
She completed a backpacking trip at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and is looking forward to a summer camping trip on the West Coast Trail.
Required merit badges to attain Eagle Scout include camping, citizen in the community, citizen in the nation, family life, emergency preparedness, first aid, personal fitness, swimming, environmental science, communications, personal management and sustainability.
“I think that Scouts BSA has done a really good job of teaching not only camping skills, but also life skills,” Appleman said.
Appleman lives in Fox Chapel and is a senior at Shady Side Academy. She’s the daughter of Dr. Jodi Maranchie and Dr. Leonard Appleman.
Dan Brill, orchestra teacher and faculty adviser at SSA, said she has a genuine intellectual curiosity.
“It’s been so great to watch this friendly, humble unassuming young woman evolve into a leader in our school’s string orchestra as well as in her community,” Brill said. “Katy has a quick mind, a warm heart and a right spirit. She makes our school a better place, and I’m confident that will be true of every stop she will have on her future path.”
She said her college plans and course of study are still undecided.
In addition to scouting pursuits, Appleman enjoys painting, playing the violin as a member of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras, cooking, music and playing with her chickens, dogs and cats.