ELBRIDGE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Emily Mocyk and Frankie Brown have known each other since they were in preschool and are the best of friends. They’re also what you would call jacks-of-all-trades.
They played in their high school’s concert band and marching band together.
Next week they will graduate in the top 10 of their class together, after which Brown will go to SUNY Potsdam where she hopes to study music education, and Mocyk will head to Binghamton University to study biochemistry.
Oh, and when they go and do that, they’ll have been recognized as the first female Eagle Scouts not just in the Longhouse Council, but in all of Onondaga County, a journey that didn’t just start two years ago when Scouts BSA started allowing girls into their ranks, but much earlier in large part thanks to their brothers.
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Mocyk and Brown (in green uniform shirts) were members of Troop 52's co-ed Venturing Crew before they were able to join the troop itself.
© 2021 Emily Mocyk and Frankie Brown -
Troop 1G hosts eight female scouts, two of which will be working towards their Eagle in the coming months, and two in Mocyk and Brown (front right) who will earn their Eagle this coming week.
© 2021 Emily Mocyk & Frankie Brown -
Mocyk (center) and Brown (not pictured) both took part in a number of leadership trainings, both as participants and staff.
© 2021 Emily Mocyk -
Mocyk and Brown (front left) spent several years on National Youth Leadership Training staff.
© 2021 Emily Mocyk & Frankie Brown -
Brown and Mocyk (right) roast marshmallows with fellow scouts.
© 2021 Emily Mocyk & Frankie Brown
“[Me and Emily] started coming with our brothers,” Brown said. “We were here together and we wanted to be part of it because they were doing it.”
Being there meant attending family campouts and sitting with their brothers during meetings to learn the skills at the same time. Their presence became so constant, that they even garnered themselves a nickname fitting for a group of honorary scouts.
“Before we knew it,” Mocyk said, “We were the ‘Little Sisters Patrol.'”
When they turned 14 the “Little Sister’s Patrol” would go on to join it’s troop’s co-ed Venturing Crew, and while it was a improvement from not being involved at all, it still wasn’t the experience they were hoping for.
Then 2019 came around, and Scouts BSA made the decision to allow girls to participate in scouting along with their male counterparts. Mocyk and Brown jumped at the opportunity immediately.
“I remember the excitement of like, ‘We’re official now.'” Brown said. “We’re not just hanging out in the background whether we’re supposed to be there or not.”
Both Mocyk and Brown became full-fledged scouts, and with the experiences they had with their brothers in years prior, they rose through the ranks rapidly. For Mocyk, that fact remains the least bit unbelievable.
“It’s still crazy because we were obviously here with our brothers so we’ve been doing this stuff for as long as we can remember,” Mocyk said. “It was like we were given this requirement to get this rank and we know how to do it so we pretty much just have to prove it. It was basically a big test to see if we remembered what we learned over the years which is kind of cool because we pulled it off.”
The final step of which was completing their Eagle Scout projects. Brown’s project saw her plant trees in Jordan, at the site of the staging area for the annual Memorial Day parade. Mocyk’s meanwhile had a special significance to her past.
“I led people in making blankets over 200 fleece-tie blankets to donate to Golisano Children’s Hospital and McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center,” Mocyk said. “I was in the hospital when I was young and I got one of these blankets passed out by someone with a wagon. I still have that blanket.”
Yet another reason why for these two best friends, scouting has had a major impact.
“Before I joined scouting I couldn’t even talk to my teacher and I struggled to have solid communication skills,” Mocyk said. “It’s crazy how much I’ve grown in that aspect and I really don’t think I would have without scouts.”
And it has taken them to places and helped them do things they may have never thought they’d want to try.
“We’ve both flown planes through scouting. Met scouts from all over the country,” Brown said. “Just done so much cool stuff and the fact that there’s a program that’s given me all of these opportunities is huge.”
It’s those memories that both Brown and Mocyk say will stay with them forever.
Memories of sitting in scout meetings with their brothers, and camping out with their families.
Memories of putting on the uniform for the first time, roasting marshmallows over an open fire, and staffing leadership camps.
Memories of Eagle Scout projects aimed at serving a community they hold so dear.
Even memories of an infamous stuffed bear that they call “Teddy.”
All of them will stick with them as the lead up to when these two best friends, Emily Mocyk and Frankie Brown, become the first female Eagle Scouts in Onondaga County.
