Rising the Ranks
Meet Dani Frovarp, Yellowstone County’s first female Eagle Scout
As a first-grader, Dani Frovarp often tagged along to her twin brother Brett’s Boy Scout Troop gatherings. Her dad was an assistant den leader. So, it just made sense.
“My mom would have work, and my dad would just say, ‘OK, you’re coming with us.’ I’d go and run around and do all the things with the boys, hang out and play all the games,” Dani says. When summer day camp rolled round, “My dad snuck me in, threw a T-shirt on me and told me to go with the boys,” Dani says with a smile.
So, in 2019, when the Boy Scouts of America changed its name to Scouts BSA, it also changed the rules, allowing girls to join a troop.
“I thought, yeah, I’m going to do this,” Dani says. She was the first and only girl in her troop. “It was definitely a challenge being, for a long time, one of the only girls in Scouts in Billings — finding my way and not being scared or intimidated around all those boys.”
Back then, for a girl to join, she had to create her own troop by branching off an existing boy’s troop. It was hard because at the time, thanks to Covid, membership had dropped off.
“We were down to just four people including myself,” Dani says. “It was hard working and trying to communicate and advocate for what I wanted for the troop.”
Branching off meant she also had to name her troop. Since she was tied to the boys’ Troop 10, she landed on the name Troop 10-4.
“It’s going to sound cocky, but 11-year-old me thought, D for Dani is the fourth letter of the alphabet,” Dani says. “I started the troop and I wanted that.” It probably comes as no surprise that the troop’s patrol yell, a shout used to round up members, is “10-4 Good Buddy!”
Today, as a 15-year-old sophomore at Billings West High, Dani has added another first to her list of scouting accomplishments. She’s risen through the ranks from Cub Scout, to Boy Scout to now Eagle Scout. Dani is the first female to earn the Eagle Scout rank in Yellowstone County.
“When I found out there was an opportunity to be the first female Eagle Scout in the district and in Billings, I wanted to earn it before I turned 15,” Dani says. She didn’t quite make it by her 15th birthday. The title and all its regalia came a few weeks after she turned 16.
“There's a lot to it,” Dani says as she points to her sash covered in just a portion of her merit badges. There’s the badge for aviation she earned spending time up at the airport going over all the mechanics of a private plane. There’s the aquatic lifesaving badge she earned going through basic lifeguard training. And, there’s a quirky little alien that adorns her shirt, the symbol she chose for her patrol unit. “My patrol was the Atomic Aliens. And I picked that my first year in Scouts as a lone Scout,” she says with a smile.
To land the title of Eagle Scout, Dani had to earn 22 merit badges including 14 specifically for the Eagle rank. She also had to organize, plan and lead an extensive service project.
After mulling over her options, she didn’t have to look far to find a project. Her Scout troop met at American Lutheran Church downtown on Lewis Avenue. At the back of the church lot sat a sad and worn-down shed with paint splotches that attempted to cover up graffiti.
“They had their shed vandalized and it never got painted, the color was very worn out,” Dani says. When she brought the project to the church, she says, “They were overjoyed.” While she didn’t realize it at the time, she knows now that painting the shed was her way of giving back to the church that gave her so much.
“The church and the people I have met through that church, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she says.
Since earning her Eagle Scout rank, Dani has been called a trailblazer from time to time. She doesn’t take that lightly.
“At my Eagle ceremony, my Scout master said, ‘You know, you're paving the way for the girls in your troop, those who are behind you now as well as in the district,’” she says. Dani is also credited with successfully encouraging other girls to join.
For Dani, she simply focuses on the ways Scouts has impacted her life. She uses the Scout Open Law as her moral compass, being mindful of ways she can be kind, courteous, cheerful and friendly. If it doesn’t align with that compass, it’s easy for her to navigate away from it. Scouting has also helped her grow stronger. She hopes to use that strength by joining the military when she turns 18.
“I’m not afraid to speak up and I’m not afraid to have a voice in different areas of my life.” Dani says. “I think Scouts has made a huge impact in that way. It’s definitely made me a better person.”
