2 Michigan Teens Among Some of the First Black Girl Eagle Scouts in the State: 'It's Really Important'

Kimani Brame and Phoenix Moyer earned the feat after Scouts — formerly Boy Scouts — began allowing girls to join their ranks in 2019

Two high school students in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are now among some of the first Black girls to reach Eagle Scout status in the state!

The students, East Kentwood High School sophomore Kimani Brame and junior Phoenix Moyer, earned the feat after Scouts — formerly Boy Scouts — began allowing girls to join their ranks in 2019.

"We did not plan to be among the first. We didn't know that we were one of the first until my ceremony, when they actually talked about it," Moyer tells PEOPLE. "When we were doing our project, earning all of the merit badges, we didn't know. That was not even a thought in our minds. We were just doing what our dads encouraged us to do as Scout leaders, and what our older brothers did anyway."

"We knew that there's not a lot of Black female Scouts, but we didn't even think that we'd be newsworthy. We had no idea," she adds.

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Brame and Moyer received high praise from not only their fellow Scouts, but also government officials, including Congresswoman Hillary J. Scholten, the first woman to represent Grand Rapids’ district.

"I know what it’s like to break barriers and to be the first, but you’re blazing a trail for so many women to follow,” the congresswoman told the new Eagle Scouts in a clip obtained by WOOD-TV.

“And I couldn’t be more proud of you,” Scholten added.

State Representative Phil Skaggs, who presented Brame with a tribute during her induction, also shouted out the trailblazers on social media.

"It was an honor to present an official Tribute of the State of Michigan to Kimani Brame on her induction as an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America," Skaggs wrote.

Related: Boy Scouts Will Now Require a Diversity & Inclusion Badge: 'We Believe That Black Lives Matter'

Speaking about her achievement and the praise she has received since, Brame says, "It's crazy to me. I did not imagine that this was going to happen at all."

"I feel so honored to be someone who did this, and just to have the honor to be one of the first. It's really important to me," she adds.

Moyer, meanwhile, tells PEOPLE that being a Scout "kind of does change you as a person."

"Not as soon as you get it, you've flipped the switch or anything, but on the journey there," she explains. "It teaches you so many things about yourself, about other people, about things of the world, like important skills, communication, ways to meet people and be around people, and just getting there."

"It makes you a different and a better person, and it teaches you that you can do hard things. I've done so many things I never thought I'd be able to do," Moyer adds.

Looking ahead, both Brame and Moyer plan to continue their work with the Scouts in the years to come.

"Our dads will make sure every other Tuesday we will be at our church," Moyer says. "Our troop has recently had an influx of younger Cub Scout kids, and it's a ruckus, but it's fun, and it's really nice to be kind of a leader in that position."

"We're also trying to encourage more young girls. It's pretty much Phoenix and I against the world right now," Brame adds. "I love Phoenix to death, so I am just fine being us, but since it's kind of us who are in the higher positions as females, we're trying to start over again to get some of the littles [to join]."

Moyer and Brame also tell PEOPLE that they are currently looking into colleges and both have their hearts set on pursuing their interests: horticulture and biomedical engineering, respectively.

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Read the original article on People.