Do you know how many girls are in Girl Scouts? There are three different troops and one represents Santa Rosa Academy.

Girl Scouts started in 1912 when 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia tried to make a difference. Women were not allowed to vote then and were expected to follow strict rules.

In 1911, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, met with Juliette Gordon Low, widely known as Daisy, and the two talked about what they planned for the following year. They spoke about working Girl Guides in England and Scotland, and there are troops with an average of 18-30 girls with the guidance of a team leader.

After this, Low was inspired to change people’s ways, especially women. Since it was in 1911-1912, it was a time when women weren’t allowed to do things that were considered too ‘manly’ for a woman. She wanted to expand women’s strengths, creativity, and opinions, and create many opportunities that most people won’t have.

Throughout the years, Girl Scouts have been changing the world from having spoken out in the 1960s. A Girl Scout troop did a Speak Out conference where they would talk about racial equality, overcoming prejudice, and building better relationships between different and unique people.

“When I was a Girl Scout I was in the same council and I found out at a council event about brownie to cadette. We made troop banners and we had different badges and a workbook and it was called Badge Work. Our cookie kick-off event now was called the Girl Scout Olympics since it would fall under sports and everything. The difference from today was the cookie rally. The prizing of cookies of course and all the badges looked different from recent ones.” Carrie Larsen, Jaden’s Larsen’s mom said.

However, Girl Scouts is more than selling cookies or collecting badges. Members have the opportunity to earn the Silver, Bronze, and Gold awards. These awards require girls to help and get more involved with their community.

The Bronze award is for Juniors, grades 4-5 make a project that focuses on supporting and serving others. They also work on responsibility and teamwork, since their project is with families and volunteers. Bronze takes up at least a troop to complete the project. Each girl has to work hard for their project and before they can start it, their booths should add up to 20 hours.

Another award is a Silver Award. Silver requires 2-4 girls or individuals, Cadettes are grades 6-8. This project can’t be earned if more than 4 girls are working on the same project. Their booth hours per girl should all add up to 50 hours. Their project is based on more individual work but the girls still help each other out if needed.

Lastly, the Gold Award is the last award any girl could get. Seniors/Ambassadors are the oldest girls that could still be a Girl Scout, grades 9-12. This project is completely individual and has to take a lead or a manager for their whole project, their total booth hours have to end up to 80 hours. This is where it gets interesting, The Gold Award would need 2 or more other people besides the girl who is in charge of making the project. Those people have to have at least a skill or any knowledge related to the project. Their deadline with no expectations is September 30 after the girl’s 18th birthday or after 12th grade. The deadline is the same for all rewards.

“I’m the only girl in my troop to get my silver award but I could not get my bronze due to covid. For my silver project, I made little bat houses around where bats like to nest in people’s houses.” 8th Grader Jordan Simar said.

Girl Scouts have their girls earn badges to show they’ve completed something. Badges include accountability, responsibility, newly taught skills, etc. They also opened new interests to girls who never thought they would try out until their troop had tried it out.

Simar goes on to say, “Earning badges has impacted my interests and things I’ve learned. I don’t think I would ever have realized my interest in woodworking or kayaking if I hadn’t done it with Girl Scouts. I love doing events and earning badges. I’ve also been doing CPR and First aid certified through Girl Scouts. My favorite badge I’ve earned was my Dolphin badge, I earned that by swimming with dolphins at SeaWorld.”

Many people are still determining where Girl Scout money goes to. This is one main reason why people don’t like to spend their money on cookies since most girls do not give much information on where the money goes nor do customers ask but it’s very rare. Cookie funds are what the Girl Scouts call the money, cookie funds go completely to the council and troops and some of the money pays the bakers and resources for all of the work that makes the cookies. Cookie Money benefits the girls and troops, the money also allows the council to find and fund programs and can support volunteers.

“Cookie funds help find stuff you want to do and I told my girls the more booths you do, the more you work closer to your goals, and so your parents don’t have to scrape up the money for things you wouldn’t normally do,” Larsen laments. “Getting funds will help you communicate and be more social since you’re talking to strangers, putting in the work, and achieving your goals so your parents won’t give you everything. At the end of the day, it means that much more than since you are doing the work, time, and effort to reach your goals.”