North Canton Middle School seventh grader Isabella Hiser has become the second youngest female Eagle Scout in the nation. Becoming an Eagle Scout is not easy. Scouts need to accumulate 21 merit badges, 14 of which need to come from the list of Eagle-required merit badges, and need to take on an Eagle Scout Project, all before the age of 18. Hiser credits the inspiration in becoming an Eagle Scout to her two older brothers.
“My determination was started from both of my brothers, they are both now Eagle Scouts,” she said. “When I was little I would go on camp-outs with them and loved it. I got my first award at the age of six, polar bear tent camping including cooking and eating outside. For four nights that would be two camp-outs.
When girls were allowed to become a part of BSA, Ms. Allison Sigman, Hiser’s mother, explained how her daughter wanted to “be a scout like her brothers were.”
“Isabella joined Troop 111 officially in February of 2021,” she said. “She has been progressing and working on her Eagle since then. She started working on her project in January of 2023. Isabella met with the representative from the Akron Zoo and started discussing different projects before finally settling on the Patagonian Mara project. For Isabella it is all about being like her brothers. She has looked up to them from the very beginning and still does today.”
Hiser spoke about her project, which was featured on Channel 3 [WKYC] news in October.
“For my project, I built a French drain in the old pool of the capybara exhibit, who sadly passed away due to old age over the winter” she said. “I did this for the new species Patagonia Mara, who loves to dig while the capybara likes to swim but the mara would drown so The drain will still let water through while the mara can dig. I have always loved animals and my moms friend works at the Akron Zoo and I asked if there was anything I could do to help the zoo and this was one of her options and the thought of working with an animals exhibit and that was amazing. The mara can’t swim but there was a concrete pool left from the capybara so I put a French drain in. The drain lets the pool filter water while the mara can dig through dirt and mulch. The mara can only dig to a point where there are yellow pine planks that the mara can chew but not get through since it’s thick but this had to be cut and the zoo couldn’t let me use the power tools needed to cut it so they helped me with that.”
Sigman spoke about what it takes to earn rank of Eagle Scout. “The Eagle Scout award is something that you have to want for yourself,” she said. “Not every scout who is in Scouts BSA earns their Eagle. Only four-six percent of scouts actually earn the rank of Eagle. They have to earn a total of 21 merit badges and of the 21, 14 are required. Those required are certain “life skills” if you will. Things like camping, cooking and swimming. The other seven merit badges can be any of the rest of the 125 that are left. Many scouts focus on the areas that they are interested in, or hobbies. Isabella earned seven palms with her Eagle rank. Each palm represents an extra fi ve merit badges earned on top of the required 21. So she earned 35 extra merit badges or 56 total earned. Since then she has earned another 5 merit badges and will receive her eighth palm at the end of October. She recently attended the Nuclear Science merit badge weekend at Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant and is determined to continue on her scouting journey. Isabella may have moved through the ranks to Eagle Scout in a few short years, but she loves scouting and continues to find the next adventure it is going to bring her.”
Hiser was determined to earn Eagle Scout. “I earned it so young by just determination,” she said. “I could just see something I wanted to do and get it done, my mom calls it an eternal flame cause it would never stop. Earning Eagle was so important because I wanted to do it for the girls. Girls in scouting is still a constant fight and doing this I knew would change peoples minds.”
Sigman is proud of her daughter attaining her goals. “I knew that she would do it,” she said. “She can be very determined when she sets her mind to something. Earning her Eagle award did not come easy. She faced a lot of obstacles. There are those who do not believe that girls belong in Scouts BSA, or those who believe that you are too young to really learn how to be an effective and responsible person at 13. Isabella has proven not only can you do it, but you can have a lot of fun doing it too.”
