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Scouting makes a 'culture shift,’ welcoming girls and changing its name to be more inclusive — and Miriam couldn’t be more thrilled

While her older brother hiked along hills, slept in a tent, cooked over a campfire and did other “adventurous" things that Boy Scouts do, 12-year-old Miriam Cook waited.

She hung a large calendar in her bedroom that “I’ve been crossing off every day,” she said, counting down to Feb. 1 when the previously all-male Boy Scouts of America officially began accepting girls into its program for youths ages 11 to 17.

The day has arrived and the sixth-grader at Copper Canyon Elementary School in Tooele — along with others girls from across Utah — is ready to make history.