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Ivanna Viloria Enciso

Age: 14

School: Catalina Foothills High School

Year: Freshman

City: Tucson

 

 

 

Timing, they say, is everything. For Ivanna Viloria Enciso, the timing could not have been better. 

Right around the time that the Boy Scouts of America announced that they would admit female members, 11-year-old Viloria Enciso and her family moved from Mexico City to Tucson. She made a pronouncement: Not only would she become a Scout, but she’d also become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank within BSA.

“I’ve always said that I was incredibly lucky to move when I did,” Viloria Enciso, now 14 and a freshman at Catalina Foothills High School, said. “Since then, the point when I joined BSA, my goal was always to get to Eagle.”

Viloria Enciso received some pushback. Initially met with a sarcastic “good luck with that” when she’d tell people about her goal, she kept pushing toward completing the required seven stages of development. Her final project was a gaga ball pit installation at a local school, designed to allow kids of all ages and physical abilities to participate and play in the area. She reached the rank of Eagle Scout on October 15, 2021. 

Ivanna recounted a time, where she was told “she couldn’t do it” because of the simple fact of being a girl. She used that to fuel her fire and has been determined ever since. 

While her time in Scouting might have started as an outsider, Viloria Enciso said she learned about gaining consensus and empathy from the experience. 

“So many adults were used to just seeing the boys’ side. That’s how the boys did it, that’s how it should always be done,” she said. “Then the girls came in and the adults were kind of freaked out. The advice that I would give is to look from both perspectives. Try to see where someone’s coming from. Most important, keep your mind open and try to look at it from a perspective of what someone else could be doing.” 

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