Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2020 - 59

She founded her own troop

For the Love of Night Skies
Former Girl Scout Lora Callahan spent 120 hours leading an effort to make James River State
Park Virginia's second International Dark Sky Park. It became such last spring.
By ERIC J. WALLACE | Photo by NICKI AHRENS

ynchburg, Virginia, native Lora Callahan
was in fourth grade and looking for a hobby. She enjoyed running but wasn't attracted to competition or team sports. Nor was she
artistically inclined. Ballet and dance proved
misses as well. What to do?
Her mom, Valerie, was a former Girl
Scout. Considering Lora's love of playing
outside and habit of taking on household projects, Mom suggested joining an area troop. When the search
turned up nada, Lora declared, "Let's
make one of our own!"
Founding Troop #217 was Lora's
first big project. With its success she
found a calling: Lora became deeply
invested in the group and helped
lead meetings; she worked hard
to plan projects and outings.
Friends were made, badges
earned. By middle school she
was a volunteer counselor
for affiliated summer camps
at Bedford County's Camp
Sacajawea.
As a high school freshman,
Lora joined four girls in representing Virginia at the 2014
National Girl Scout Convention in Utah. There she met
ambitious scouts from most
U.S. states and enrolled in the
prestigious Leadership Institute
for high-school-aged Scouts.

The program is requisite for earning a Gold
Award-the organization's highest honor. It
entails completing an 80-plus-hour project
that, according to the Girl Scouts website,
"takes steps to develop lasting solutions to
some of the most challenging problems facing
our world today." Just 5.4 % of eligible Scouts
earn the distinction. It is touted as the "most
prestigious award in the world for girls (and
the most difficult to earn)."
At the convention, recipients presented synopses of projects ranging from efforts to curb
human trafficking, cut plastic waste in oceans,
expand STEM opportunities for girls in underserved communities and more.
"I wanted to make it up on that stage," says
the now 19-year-old Lora Callahan. Scouting
had hugely impacted her life; she would see
it through to the end-and in a big way. "I
wanted younger girls to look at me and see
what I did and feel inspired to do something
similar."
Callahan initially aimed to combat adult violence against teenaged girls. She found a new
direction after volunteering with the Virginia
State Park Youth Conservation Corps Program
in early 2015.
Participation meant four weeks in York River State Park working on "important conservation projects... in a setting that fosters learning,
teamwork, self-esteem, social responsibility
and environmental respect." The experience
led her to fall in love with environmental science, public land stewardship, and a lifestyle
of outdoor conservation.
Heading into summer her parents asked
about vacation. "I said, 'Can we go to a bunch
of state parks?'" Callahan recalls with a laugh.
The experience helped reorient her Gold Award
project.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2020

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