Exchange Students to Eagle Scouts

Girls from France, Spain earn rank while attending HPHS

Lénou Bouillon and Noa Cardona, exchange students from France and Spain, earned Eagle Scout status during their year at Highland Park High School.

The BSA Troop 1899 members became the 75th and 76th girls in the Circle Ten Council, Boy Scouts of America, to earn the rank.

Before arriving in Dallas last August to attend Highland Park High School, Bouillon had been a Scout in France’s coed Scouts et Guides de France for almost seven years. 

“When I started scouting here, I learned about the Eagle and that I could earn it,” Bouillon said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, sure. Let’s do it.’”

Meetings with officials at the French consult prove she had earned some of the required merit badges back home.

“You can earn a merit badge from camping, and I went camping every month in France,” Bouillon said. “So I got some (badges) in France, but I had to earn more.”

To achieve the Eagle rank, scouts must earn at least 21 merit badges, fulfill leadership roles, show outdoor skills, and complete a service project that betters their community.

For her project, Bouillon worked with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Diocesan Council of Dallas, a faith-based charity that offers direct aid to those in need across nine counties in North Texas. 

The society operates several thrift stores across Dallas to raise money for its ministries.

Bouillon built eight mobile carts with shelves and wheels.

“They use them to move the items from the back of the store and line them up on the shelves in the store,” she said.

While Bouillon built carts, Cardona packaged personal care bags. 

“I made 20 packages for women and men that I gave to the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office for the people that they release from jail,” Cardona said. “They contained hygiene items and clothing.”

Cardona also started scouting at a young age and used some of what she learned in Spain to qualify for merit badges in the U.S.

“I used to, like, play survival games,” Cardona said. “And then here it was wellness survival, so I used my skills that I learned in those survival games for like the wellness survival, like how to build a shelter or start a fire.”

In the Park Cities, Bouillon and Cardona lived with the family of Dorothy Krouse, their scoutmaster. 

“I thought that would be kind of cool for our troop, so I said yes,” Krouse said.

Bouillon will return to France this summer to finish high school, and Cardona has already returned to Spain. 

“The thing that struck me about having the exchange students is that in Europe, Scouting has been coed for a few decades,” Krouse said. “The girls do stuff outdoors all the time, and there’s not this huge separation between the boys and girls, so they both get to do all the same things. It makes people more equal.”