Short Hills BSA Troop 19 Duo Among Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts – TAPinto.net
SHORT HILLS, NJ — Sisters Bridget and Morgan Lomax are just months away form having a unique honor conferred upon them. The sisters are scheduled to have an Eagle Court of Honor on March 18, 2021 at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 50 Short Hills Avenue, Short Hills, NJ 07078 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
(of note, depending on the course of the pandemic, the ceremony could be switched to an all-virtual format). They are in the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts.
Both were founding members of one of the largest all-girl BSA troops in the area, BSA Troop 19 in Short Hills which was founded in Feb 2019, the same month the Boy Scouts allowed girls to join the organization as scouts. Troop 19 is part of the Lenape Trails District in the Northern NJ Council.
Both girls have held several positions of leadership in the troop, including Senior Patrol Leader (Bridget as the 2nd SPL, Morgan as the 3rd [through the beginning of Jan 2021]), Patrol Leader and Quartermaster (Morgan), and instructor (both girls, as of Jan 2021). They attended 2 weeks of scout camp the summer of 2019 at Camp Yawgoog in Rhode Island (2020’s session was cancelled due to COVID). They each have numerous merit badges, with Morgan having 46 and Bridget 69, and both girls have over 50 camping nights. They also have been inducted into the Order of the Arrow (scouting honor society; Lenapehoking Lodge IX) and participated with many troop members as the 1st girls’ BSA troop to walk in the NYC Veteran’s Day Parade in 2019.
Bridget’s Eagle project involved creating a music video performance of Scouts and non-Scouts alike that was shown to residents of a local nursing home on their internal TV system. They have been prevented from receiving visitors in-person due to the COVID pandemic, and the video provides a safe and personalized source of entertainment that can be replayed in years to come. Catering was also provided. Bridget provided leadership remotely via video guidance to explain how the videos should be filmed (content, lighting, background choices, etc.), and via video calls, phone calls, emails, and texts throughout the volunteering, reviewing, and editing processes for her 25+ volunteers. Here is a link to Bridget and her sister singing a duet of “Sisters” from the 1954 Bing Crosby movie, White Christmas, that was a part of her project’s video: .
Morgan’s Eagle Project involved building 10 bat houses at 3 different locations in 3 counties, the Great Swamp in Chatham, 2 parks managed by West Windsor Township (Van Nest Park and Rogers Preserve), and Laurelwood Arboretum in Wayne. She trained volunteers and they built the bat houses under her direction at her house on 3 build dates in a socially-distanced manner ( ). The bat houses were installed under her guidance on 3 different installation dates using 16-foot wooden poles placed into 3+ foot-deep holes filled with concrete (installation 1: ; installation 2: ). Volunteers also watched a video she made explaining the Eagle Project as well as the struggle’s bats face. There are also plaques on the poles with a QR code linking to the same video, allowing others to see the educational video ( ). Her project ultimately involved 39 volunteers and the 10 bat houses can house 1000 bats in total.
The girls have also been invited to sign at a variety of scouting events, including for an Oct 2020 online NNJC fundraising event (singing Kacey Musgraves’ “Rainbow”: ).
Outside of scouting, they are freshman at the Academy of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ, where Bridget is freshman class President and Morgan the Vice-President. They are merit scholarship recipients and also are leading large service projects at their high school (Bridget helping institute plastic recycling as part of the national Bags to Benches Program, and Morgan spearheading classmates reading children’s books on video for use by preschoolers from Summit’s YMCA).
At Millburn Middle School, both girls were student ambassadors, were 8th grade Peer Leaders of the year for their respective peer leadership groups and were active in music and theater throughout their middle school career. Morgan had a lead in the 7th grade musical (Alice Beinecke in The Addams Family; video of her singing “Waiting:” ) and Bridget was a featured ancestor (Saloon girl, seen during the tango scene on far left as look at the video: ). Bridget had a starring role as Charlotte in the 8th grade musical, 13, but the musical was cancelled due to COVID.
Bridget and Morgan have participated in numerous singing competitions, often placing, and Bridget plays the viola in the Youth Orchestra of Essex County’s Orchestra Lab (YOEC; she used to play the piano and accordion). Morgan plays the pedal harp for YOEC’s symphony orchestra and cello (she also used to play the piano).
The girls also are very interested in learning foreign languages. Both are nearly fluent for their age in Mandarin Chinese (able to read, write, and speak it). Bridget is nearly fluent for her age in French and is teaching herself German. Morgan is taking advanced Spanish in high school.
Finally, the girls are very committed to environmental causes, wildlife preservation, and sustainable living.