“It all started with Ed Flagg and Donnie Golden coming to Garrett Memorial Christian school and saying they're letting girls in Scouts,” Wright told me.
I asked Wright what drew her to join.
“I've always just been an outdoorsy kid. So I was like, ‘Well, this kind of sounds interesting, so let me see what it's about.’ I got hooked immediately,” she said.
So Wright began coming to the Tuesday meetings, in which scoutmasters like Flagg, Golden, Lester Sitzes and Karen Smith taught scouts skills leading to the earning of merit badges. She read her scouting handbooks and started her quest for Eagle Scout, all the while making friends and gaining contacts with other scouts, both in her own troop and from units in other states.
“I've made a lot of connections over the years. I can't count how many people that I've met and have become friends with because of scouting. I've met people all over the nation that I still keep in touch with. But also with my local troop members, people that are still in it, people that aren't in it anymore, but also in the Honor Society of scouting,” Wright said.
Her travels as part of Scouts have taken her to scenic places throughout the United States but also to those in her own. “The big one that I went to was a national event, the National [Scouting America] Jamboree, and we went to West Virginia, to the Summit Bechtel Reserve. I've been to Knoxville, Tennessee for a national Order of the Arrow conference, and Boulder, Colorado for another conference,” Wright said.
A record of these trips and of her adventures hiking, kayaking, white-water rafting and mingling exists in three heavy volumes of scrap books, all of which will hold great interest for any future biographer of Wright, historian of the Scouts transitioning to co-ed membership or appreciator of good scenery. These Wright stacked in the chair opposite this reporter’s desk and allowed time for paging through and occasional snaps of the Iphone camera.
As well as giving her adventures and memories, being in scouts has given her new skills as she earned the necessary badges toward Eaglehood. “It really wasn't a thing of like I need to. It was more like a I want to,” Wright explained. “Only 11 of these are Eagle required. It's all of these in the white border. Then all of the ones with the green border, a lot of them are fun. They're all fun in different ways. But you have to have 22 for Eagle.”
The status of Eagle also requires a final project. For this, Wright helped organize the placement of a decorative trellis in Hope’s Pocket Park, which lends distinctiveness and beauty to the East Second Street site. She collaborated with sponsors, raised funds and got the necessary permissions. Now the Pocket Park feels a lot more complete because of Wright’s efforts.
But the Eagle project was not the only instance of Wright, together with her fellow scouts, helping out. “We do a lot of different community service. With Lions Club, we help them out with the Leo Club from Garrett Memorial. We help with the food drives. We've done trash cleanups. There's a camp in Mena, Pioneer Campgrounds, that we help. We do service projects every year we go there. We also help with the is the drive-through haunted house,” she explained.
The latter event has the scouts, combined with volunteers from local law enforcement and medical first responders, designing horrific but fake accident scenes amid the ghostly presences and fog surrounding Fair Park on Halloween nights. For many visitors to the park on that night Halloween is not complete without it.
About two weeks after this year’s Halloween, Wright learned of winning the Arkansas Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Scout of the Year Award for the years 2024-2025. She accepted the award, which went to one of over 200 entrants this year, at VFW Post 2278 in Hot Springs. It comes with a $500 scholarship, which Wright added $100 to for coming in third in an audio-essay competition on the topic of showing patriotism and support for one’s country. Wright said she was surprised to have won the VFW award but considers it a great honor, not least because she is the first female Eagle Scout in Arkansas to win it.
What does the future hold for Wright? As a senior at Hope High and a student at the Collegiate Academy, meaning she attends college-level courses at UAHT as well, Wright said she has declared the intent to attend University of Arkansas Fayetteville starting this fall in pursuit of a degree in chemistry with plans to proceed to graduate school in pharmacy after.
As for her relationship to scouting, Wright wants to keep it going. “It'll probably be guiding the younger scouts. I'm kind of already in a role to do that. I'm still a youth, but I'm already in that position, doing what my scout masters did for me.”
Wright recommends any young person who wants to gain skills, make friends and grow as a leader among their peers to consider scouting, especially because of what it did for her. “A lot of people wouldn't know it now, but I used to be a very shy child. I didn't like to talk to new people. Didn't want to try new things. Scouts just brought me out of my shell … Scouting has literally been everything to me,” she said.
In closing, here is a list, compiled by Wright’s mother Betty, of the badges Wright attained to advance to Eagle. Of all these, Emma Wright said her favorite one to earn was Small Boat Sailing.
Eagle Scout Badge Requirements:
A. First Aid 12-05-2019
B. Citizen in the Community 11-17-2020
C. Citizen in the Nation 11-17-2020
D. Citizen in Society 02-25-2023
E. Citizen in the World 11-17-2020
F. Communication 03-27-2022
G. Cooking 06-18-2023
H. Personal Fitness 03-27-2022
I. Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving 06-18-2023
J. Environmental Science or Sustainability 06-13-2019
K. Personal Management 03-27-2022
L. Swimming/Hiking/Cycling 07-30-2019
M. Camping 06-18-2023
N. Family Life 03-27-2022
Ranks Earned:
Tenderfoot 12-8-2019 Second Class 12-8-2019
First Class 12-8-2019 Star Scout 11-17-2020
Life Scout 03-27-2022 Eagle Scout 10-02-2023
Special Awards:
Totin’ Chip 12-8-2019 Paul Bunyan 12-8-2019
Mile Swim 07-23-2019 Rich Mountain Hike 02-2021
Venturing Ranger 10-22-2025 International Spirit 10-22-2025
Complete Angler 10-22-2025 World Conservation 10-22-2025
Whitewater Rafting 10-22-2025 Eagle Palm Bronze (1) 12-31-2023
Eagle Palm Gold (2) 12-31-2023 Eagle Palm Silver (3) 12-31-2023
Eagle Palm Bronze (4) 12-31-2023 Eagle Palm Gold (4) 12-31-2023
Merit Badges:
Forestry 06-11-2019 Pulp & Paper 06-11-2019
Scout Heritage 06-07-2019 Soil & Water 06-11-2019
Welding 06-14-2019 Fly Fishing 03-24-2020
American Labor 11-17-2020 Fishing 03-24-2020
Art 11-17-2020 Astronomy 11-17-2020
Digital Technology 11-17-2020 Electronics 11-17-2020
Motor Boating 11-17-2020 Public Health 11-17-2020
Wilderness Survival 11-17-2020 Woodcarving 11-17-2020
Chess 03-27-2022 Leatherwork 3-27-2022
Rifle Shooting 03-27-2022 Small-Boat Sailing 3-27-2022
Space Exploration 03-27-2022 Archery 12-4-2022
Canoeing 12-04-2022 Kayaking 12-04-2022
Rowing 12-04-2022 Photography 07-01-2023
Weather 01-31-2023 Orienteering 07-01-2023
Whitewater 10-22-2025 Fish & Wildlife 10-22-2025
Shotgun 10-22-2025 Metal Working 10-22-2025
Fish & Wildlife 10-22-2025
