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Hupp to be first female Eagle Scout for Marietta BSA troop

Anisa Hupp will be the first female in her Scouts BSA Troop 1207G, based in Marietta, to earn an Eagle Scout ranking following her project of installing bird, duck and bat boxes on Blennerhassett Island this weekend. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — A Parkersburg woman will be the first female in her troop to earn an Eagle Scout ranking after she completes a wildlife preservation project this weekend.

Anisa Hupp, college freshman at WVU Parkersburg, has been involved with scouts at a young age with influence from her older brother. She is a member of BSA Troop 2107 G out of Marietta.

When she was 14, she was accepted into Scouts BSA which began accepting females in February 2019.

“I’ve been alongside the program since my bother was of age to be in scouting. I’ve been in the program for a lot of time,” Hupp said. “They just opened the program to girls and let us have the opportunity to have the rank like the boys do.”

Hupp’s Eagle Scout project involves the installation of boxes for bats, ducks and birds. When choosing what to do for her project, she knew she wanted to do something to benefit wildlife; she contacted state parks to see if she could help.

With the help of her father Al Hupp, Anisa Hupp works on building bird, bat and duck boxes to be installed on Blennerhassett Island this weekend. For this project, Anisa will be the first female in her Scouts BSA Troop 1207G to earn the Eagle Scout ranking. (Photo Provided)

Hupp got her passion for wildlife after working at Camp Kootaga in Walker.

“Whenever I had joined my first year working at Kootaga, I had no intention in working in nature and when I had the opportunity to work there, I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed how much I liked being outside,” she said.

In partnering with Blennerhassett Island, Hupp installed several boxes this weekend to attract bats and birds.

“I really like wildlife. We had reached out to them and they said they wanted some boxes. I had a bunch of ideas,” she said. “Some birds don’t come back because they don’t have homes. It’s a pretty good place to bring back wildlife.”

The island donated boxes that needed work, but other than that, Hupp crafted the boxes on her own after finding blueprints and instructions online.

After she installs the boxes, a large part of the project will need to be finished before she receives the Eagle Scout ranking.

“Afterward you have to put a workbook together and (outline) how you made it. If somebody were to pick up that binder, they would know how I did my project and what it is. If they pick up the book they would know me, why I did this, how I got the money and planned out my work days. It’s a start-to-finish on how I did everything,” Hupp said.

In previous years, Hupp has helped others complete their Eagle Scout projects including Frannie Kitzmiller, one of the nation’s first women to be named an Eagle Scout.

She encourages girls to become involved in Scouts BSA and says it’s rewarding despite some of the backlash that could come along with it.

“If somebody was interested in joining the program, it’s an amazing program. It (gave me) one of my favorite memories,” Hupp said.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.

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