The Mercer-Smith House, located between Broad Street and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Fairborn, was built around 1799 for the Mercer family, the city’s first settlers. It is believed to be the oldest house in what is considered old Fairfield, before the city merged with Osborn in 1950.
Working with the Fairborn Parks District and the city historical society, Hildebrecht constructed two benches that are meant to reflect the historic and rustic nature of the Mercer-Smith House.
“I still can’t wrap my head around it,” Hildebrecht said of earning her Eagle Scout rank. “From figuring out a challenging Eagle project that I had to overcome, figuring through different weak spots … trying to lead different scouts to help me out, I guess it helped me to become … a better leader.”
Like many girls involved in scouting, Hildebrecht had participated in various scouts activities with her older brother, also a scout, but was barred from certain activities until 2017.
“So the activities that he did, I was a part of,” she said. “When he continued on into becoming a Boy Scout, I joined in, even though I wasn’t a scout, I joined along in with doing the same activities that he did.”
Like Hildebrecht, the first girls involved in Scouting were often siblings of Boy Scouts, said Tecumseh Council Scout Executive Rob Lavoie.
“It has been slowly increasing over time where girls recognize, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I can actually join scouting,” he said. “And it’s gone from sisters of brothers in scouting to more broadly girls just wanting to join.”
Boy Scouts of America, now called Scouting America, officially opened to girls in 2017, first with Cub Scout groups, and later with the larger scouts organization.
The Tecumseh Council, which serves Logan, Champaign, Clark, Greene, and Clinton counties, welcomed its first cohort of female Eagle Scouts in 2021. Today, girls make up about 15% of scouts in the Tecumseh Council, which serves about 2,000 scouts across the five counties. Hildebrecht is one of 50 scouts overall who will earn their Eagle Scout rank this year, Lavoie said.
Hildebrecht was the only girl in her troop, Fairborn Troop 72, until about two years ago. Now, more and more girls are joining other troops locally.
“When I was in Girl Scouts back when I was little … it was more crafts, and it was not what I wanted to do. Being of the era that I grew up in, I never thought that there would ever be the chance that girls would be able to get into the Boy Scouts,” said her mother, Adrienne Blake. “For her to achieve what she has, I think is just top notch.”
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