Severna Park Scout Earns “Golden Eagle”

A Severna Park teenager accomplished a rare double achievement in Scouting, receiving the Girl Scouts’ Gold Award and Scouting America’s Eagle Scout rank, a triumph she refers to as the “Golden Eagle.”

Individually, only about 5% of eligible Girls Scouts earn the Gold Award, the organization’s highest honor, and only 4% to 6% of eligible Scouting America (formerly known as Boy Scouts of America) Scouts receive the rank of Eagle Scout. Seventeen-year-old Abigail Dugenske’s feat is so uncommon, an official number of Scouts to achieve both honors has never been recorded but is believed to be in the low hundreds.

Dugenske’s interest in Scouting first developed when she was about 4 years old through spending time with her grandmother.

“My grandma was always involved in Scouting,” Dugenske said. “I would hang out with her as a daycare program with my parents and she would take me to this thing called Scouting for Food where you stand in front of a grocery store and basically recruit for food.”

In 2020, COVID-19 restrictions limited all Girl Scout activities to be held virtually and shut down all summer camps. Because camps were her favorite part of Scouting, Dugenske looked into other options and decided to join Scouting America, which began allowing girls to join and was still offering in-person campouts.

When Dugenske first joined Scouting America, she immediately set her eyes on reaching Eagle Scout because she knew how rare the achievement would be for a girl. Only about 8,000 girls have earned the rank in Scouting America’s first five years. But the goal didn’t seem reachable until November 2025 when she was awarded the Gold Award.

For her Gold Award project, Dugenske drew inspiration from her grandmother and her early memories of Scouting and opted to help fight food insecurity in her community by constructing a Little Free Pantry outside of the Severn Library.

“It’s a really important part of my life because I know the stressors of balancing school, family life, and sports and not having a meal to come home to,” Dugenske, a rising senior at Severna Park High School, said. “I know it has to be stressful for some families; that's one thing I know I can help make a difference within households.”

The new Little Free Pantry is large enough to hold about two months’ worth of food, but it is usually emptied out within a day. Community members who would like to contribute to the pantry should donate canned vegetables and soup, cups of fruit, pasta, ramen packets and tuna packets.

Following the completion of her food pantry, Dugenske didn’t have to look far for inspiration for her next project to complete her Eagle Scout requirement. At the same location, she began to plant a succulent garden.

Dugenske’s hard work and dedication paid off in February 2026 when she completed the second milestone for her “Golden Eagle” by earning her Eagle Scout rank.

“It feels pretty great,” Dugenske said of her achievement. “It's a really great accomplishment, but it is definitely something you cannot do alone. I definitely had a lot of family and friends help me to get to where I am because obviously you cannot do this alone.”

A Court of Honor ceremony to recognize Dugenske’s Scouting achievements was held June 14, as she was presented a citation from the Maryland General Assembly and her Eagle Scout certificate from the National Office of Scouting America.

While she is one of the first to get “Golden Eagle,” Dugenske knows she won’t be the last. But for future young women looking to follow in her footsteps, they too will need to branch outside of the Girl Scouts and join Scouting America.

“Don't be afraid,” Dugenske said. “It's definitely something if you want to do, you have to put your heart into it. Don't let anyone disregard you or push you off your path. Because there will be people who will tell you that you can't do it. You just have to keep pushing and trying.”

Outside of Scouting, Dugenske is also an accomplished cheerleader and recently made the Maryland Top Gun MAVA (Maryland/Virginia) level 6 non-tumble team.

“My next big accomplishment is cheer,” she said. “Level 6 goes to the cheerleading worlds and my hope is to come back with second place or hopefully first place in the world championship. That would be super duper, duper great, but it does not come without hard work, resilience and teamwork.”