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TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO ABC. CHANGES CAME TO THE BOY SCOUTS IN 2019, WHEN THE ORGANIZATION REBRANDED, OPENED ITS DOORS TO GIRLS AT THAT POINT, THEN THIS YEAR BECAME WHAT THEY CALL SCOUTING AMERICA. AND NOW THE FIRST YOUNG WOMAN IN VALENCIA COUNTY JUST ACHIEVED THE RANK OF EAGLE SCOUT. OUR OWN PEYTON SPELLACY JOINS US IN THE STUDIO THIS MORNING WITH MORE ABOUT HER STORY. HI, PEYTON. HEY, TODD AND ROYALE. SO TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT, YOU MUST COMPLETE A MAJOR COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT FOR 17 YEAR OLD GABRIELLE MONTOYA. THAT MEANT TAKING SOMETHING LIKE A TIRE AND TRANSFORMING IT INTO A DOG BED FOR THE VALENCIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER. IT’S TAKEN HER ABOUT FIVE YEARS TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT, WHICH IS THE HIGHEST RANK IN SCOUTING, REQUIRING YEARS OF DEDICATION, LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY SERVICE. I ALSO WANT TO SHOW YOU HER UNIFORM HERE. THE SASH HOLDS MORE THAN 40 BADGES, EACH ONE REPRESENTING A SKILL THAT SHE’S MASTERED FROM FIRST AID TO SPACE EXPLORATION AND SHOTGUN SAFETY. EACH SKILL ALSO HELPED HER PREPARE FOR LIFE IN HER DREAM TO BECOME A VETERINARIAN. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE IS HELP THOSE ANIMALS AND HELP OTHER PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM IN THE SAME WAY THAT I DO. AND PART OF THE REASON THAT SCOUTING SORT OF HAS ASSISTED ME IN THIS WAY IS BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, YOU LEARN A THING OR TWO FROM MERIT BADGES LIKE THESE AND YOU LEARN HOW TO, YOU KNOW, BE THE BEST PERSON THAT YOU CAN BE THROUGHOUT THIS JOURNEY, MONTOYA SAYS SCOUTING HELPED HER GROW AS A LEADER AND AS A PERSON, AND HER MESSAGE TO YOUNG GIRLS WHO WANT TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT IS TO JUST TAKE THE LEAP.
Teen becomes first girl in her county to earn Eagle Scout rank
17-year-old Gabrielle Montoya’s 5-year journey led to community service, leadership, and more than 40 merit badges
Updated: 11:22 AM EDT Sep 20, 2025
Changes came to the Boy Scouts in 2019 when the organization rebranded and opened its doors to girls. This year, it became Scouting America.Now, Valencia County, New Mexico, can boast its first girl to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.Seventeen-year-old Gabrielle Montoya earned the honor after five years of dedication, leadership, and community service. To reach the highest rank in scouting, she completed a major project that turned old tires into dog beds for the Valencia County Animal Shelter.Her uniform sash carries more than 40 merit badges, each marking a skill she has mastered, from first aid to space exploration and shotgun safety. Those skills, Montoya said, have prepared her not only for life but also for her dream career as a veterinarian.”One of the things that I want to do with my life is help those animals and help other people who love them in the same way that I do,” she said. “And part of the reason that scouting sort of has assisted me in this way is because, you know, you learn a thing or two from merit badges like these, and you learn how to, you know, be the best person that you can be throughout this journey.”Montoya also takes pride in the patches displayed on her uniform.”This is my patrol patch. We’re part of the Frosty Flippers. And the patrol is basically a leadership group within the troop. So kind of like a bureaucracy if you think, like, different levels of government, we’ve got the same thing in the troop,” she said. “This is a Journey to Excellence Award. And what this represents is a couple of things that our troop had to do in order to take the step up and be a step above, and maybe like an average Scout troop.”She pointed out one patch in particular.”This patch right here is particularly important. This is in memory of one of the scouts in our brother troop, who actually was an Eagle Scout named Evan Strickland, who passed away during an Osprey accident in service. So we wear this in memory for him and in memory for his family as well,” she said.Other patches on her uniform represent the High Desert Council, the troop she helped found, her role as a junior assistant scoutmaster, and her Eagle Scout rank. She also wears patches for completing polar bear plunge activities and for her membership in the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s honor society.Montoya said scouting helped her grow as a leader and as a person. Her advice to other girls hoping to follow in her footsteps is to take the leap.
Changes came to the Boy Scouts in 2019 when the organization rebranded and opened its doors to girls. This year, it became Scouting America.
Now, Valencia County, New Mexico, can boast its first girl to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.
Seventeen-year-old Gabrielle Montoya earned the honor after five years of dedication, leadership, and community service. To reach the highest rank in scouting, she completed a major project that turned old tires into dog beds for the Valencia County Animal Shelter.
Her uniform sash carries more than 40 merit badges, each marking a skill she has mastered, from first aid to space exploration and shotgun safety. Those skills, Montoya said, have prepared her not only for life but also for her dream career as a veterinarian.
“One of the things that I want to do with my life is help those animals and help other people who love them in the same way that I do,” she said. “And part of the reason that scouting sort of has assisted me in this way is because, you know, you learn a thing or two from merit badges like these, and you learn how to, you know, be the best person that you can be throughout this journey.”
Montoya also takes pride in the patches displayed on her uniform.
“This is my patrol patch. We’re part of the Frosty Flippers. And the patrol is basically a leadership group within the troop. So kind of like a bureaucracy if you think, like, different levels of government, we’ve got the same thing in the troop,” she said. “This is a Journey to Excellence Award. And what this represents is a couple of things that our troop had to do in order to take the step up and be a step above, and maybe like an average Scout troop.”
She pointed out one patch in particular.
“This patch right here is particularly important. This is in memory of one of the scouts in our brother troop, who actually was an Eagle Scout named Evan Strickland, who passed away during an Osprey accident in service. So we wear this in memory for him and in memory for his family as well,” she said.
Other patches on her uniform represent the High Desert Council, the troop she helped found, her role as a junior assistant scoutmaster, and her Eagle Scout rank. She also wears patches for completing polar bear plunge activities and for her membership in the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s honor society.
Montoya said scouting helped her grow as a leader and as a person. Her advice to other girls hoping to follow in her footsteps is to take the leap.
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