Local student earns both Girl Scout Gold Award and Eagle Scout rank

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – A local woman has become the first in her local council to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award and the Eagle Scout rank, joining a small group of women nationwide to receive both.

Hailey Hudson has been scouting since she was a little girl, joining her troop leader mother at meetings before she could even officially join.

From the start, she set her sights on the highest levels of achievement she could reach in Girl Scouts, the Gold Award.

“I think this is something that I always kind of knew would happen in a way and just telling myself, ‘you’ve got it,’” Hailey said.

Earning the Gold Award is a lengthy process, requiring extensive paperwork and project approval in order to proceed. The project itself is meant to generate a long-term impact.

Hailey wanted to center her project around pit bulls after spending years fostering the breed. However, she was met with roadblocks in getting her project approved.

Her mother, Dana Hudson, said she didn’t let that slow her down.

“How inspiring it was to watch her not give up when she was facing some of the struggles,” she said.

Her project was eventually approved, but she was left with a short timeline to complete her project. She created a series of educational videos about pit bull training and ownership alongside Make a Stand Bully Rescue and officially received her Gold Award.

“It took 13 months to finally get approved and started which left me about five months to complete my Gold Award, which is very quick for anybody who’s done their Gold,” Hailey said.

It wasn’t her first major award from the Girl Scouts. She also received her Bronze and Silver Awards, a process that takes years to complete.

For her Bronze Award, Hailey put together a group to launch an infant heatstroke campaign after hearing several reports of infants passing away from being left in cars.

“That was touching the girls at the time, and so that’s really what their education campaign was about,” Dana said.

Hailey’s Silver Award was centered around purchasing bikes for those who didn’t have transportation around College Station. She started the Thin Mint Sprint to raise money, which continues to this day as an outlet for other Girl Scouts to raise money for their projects. She was inspired to complete the project after speaking with a homeless person with a bike in Washington D.C..

Her hard work and tenacity led to her being honored in Austin with the Summit Award, given to Girl Scouts who have successfully earned their Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.

”It definitely was a lot, and I definitely cried through the entire process. Happy tears, of course,” Hailey said.

In 2019, the Boy Scouts of America began accepting girls into its ranks, changing the name to Scouting BSA. Hailey said several male members of her family had earned their Eagle Scout rank, and she wanted to follow in their footsteps.

“She’s sitting in the car next to me. She goes, “I want to do both,” I was like, “Both? Both what?’ ‘I want to get my Gold and my Eagle.’ Like, okay, let’s do it,” Dana said.

But joining Scouting BSA as a young woman came with its own set of challenges, from negative opinions to ‘proving herself’ and her place in the organization.

“It makes things a lot harder for you. To get things approved, and then having to prove yourself and being like, I can be here. I promise I can do these things,” Hailey said.

Despite the challenges, Hailey persevered. She earned her Eagle Scout rank after organizing a food drive for the Brazos Valley Food Bank, leading a team of volunteers and raising around 500 pounds of food and about $1,000.

“It was encouraging to watch too. You raise these kiddos and of course, you’re wanting them to do well when they get out there, and then they do stuff like this and you’re like, ‘you’re fine.’” Dana said.

Hailey said she’s, ‘a little bit of an overachiever,’ but the lessons she’s learned over her time scouting are invaluable for her future.

“It tells people that I have leadership skills, that I have communication skills, and I can time things well. And it shows a lot, there’s a lot within that. It’s definitely very good to set goals for yourself and attain those goals,” Hailey said.

She currently studies communications at West Texas A&M University and graduated from College Station High School last May.