Since she was a little girl, Sydney Ireland has dreamed of not only becoming a Boy Scout, but achieving the organization's highest rank: Eagle Scout.

"Now it's finally coming into fruition, and I will be able to say that I'm an Eagle Scout, and so many other girls will too," said Ireland.

Ireland spent years pushing Boy Scouts of America to change their rules to include girls, tagging along with her brother to BSA meetings and completing the same work he did to ascend in rank. Now, one year after the organization changed its policy to allow girls, all that work is paying off.

"At times it was frustrating," said Ireland.  "It was difficult to know if they were actually going to change their policies, but with a lot of pressure from girls around the country, including myself and other people, we managed to break some barriers."

She joins Beatrix Bisceglia as the first female members of the Boy Scouts' Greater New York Councils to spearhead a service project to qualify for the rank.

"Mine was making over 200 masks for the Church of the Immaculate Conception on the Lower East Side," said Bisceglia.

The 16-year-old says she hoped to help last March when masks were scarce. She also didn't want to the pandemic to derail her dream of making eagle.

"I hope that my story and what I'm doing here today can inspire other young girls, all around the country to do the same," she said.

Boy Scout leaders say both girls are proud examples to follow.

"I think that what having young women join really says about it, is this opportunity to serve the overall community and display leadership," said Joe Schiltz, Director of Operations at GNYC Scouts BSA.

That's something the girls say will pay dividends over a lifetime.

"It teaches so may leadership skills. It's a great program, and so I think that by allowing more people to have access to it, it will make the country stronger, it will make better leaders, and I'm so excited to see what happens in the future," said Ireland.