It is Girl Scout season once again as shown by the crazed students begging for a box of thin mints. Although Girl Scouts may be infamous for their cookies and the friendly little girls selling them, many don’t realize that some stick with their troops into their adulthood. For many young girls, Girl Scouts provides a platform for using their voice and learning essential life skills. Beginning at a young age, even selling cookies can teach young girls confidence and the prospect of becoming an entrepreneur. 

Senior Bridget Hale has been a girl scout for 10 years. Since her mom was a Girl Scout, she encouraged Hale and her twin sister, Clare Hale, to join when they entered the second grade. Their little sister also became a Girl Scout after them. “I like the girls in my troop and being able to do something separate from school. I’ve known these people for a long time, so it’s nice to hang out with them,” said Hale. This close bond isn’t an abnormal trait of Girl Scout troops. Many older Girl Scouts share this close bond with their troops as well. 

Senior Aneesha Chopra had been a Girl Scout for 12 years until COVID. “It was kind of like a family.”  After 10 years, Hale said she has found value in the importance of support and friendship. “It’s given me more of an appreciation for having a female-only space. I have a place where I can be myself and I’m encouraged no matter what.” 

Aside from selling cookies, Girl Scouts do many other activities. “We go camping a lot and work on our badges. Right now, we’re working on an entrepreneurship badge, so we get to research and do activities with that,” said Hale. Freshman Kylie Gomez, Girl Scout of nine years, shared this experience as well. “Currently we’re planning on a trip to tour the world. We’re definitely the more active troop. In my troop, we do weekly meetings. At this point we’ve done all the badges, so we make up our own, or we do the Boy Scout merit badges,” said Gomez. 

In addition, Hale finds volunteer opportunities through Girl Scouts in order to give back to her community. “We go to Feed My Starving Children a couple times per year. We have done beach cleanups and we pick up trash at lakes in the area,” said Hale. Similarly, Chopra participated in similar activities with her troop. “It was a lot of community service and learning how to be a good person. We fed the homeless multiple times. We did drives for orphanages. We did community cleaning,” said Chopra. Gomez shared, “Currently we’re planning on a trip to tour the world. We’re definitely the more active troop. [Community service] is a requirement for a lot of badges.”

Both Hale and Gomez have lost track of how many badges they have received over the years, however Chopra shared the extent of her accomplishments. “I got 20 to 30 different [badges] throughout my 12 years, but I went through all the different levels. My [record] was 800 boxes [of cookies]. It was a competition in my troop and [I won]. We got to go to Sunsplash, and as a 10 year old you think that’s the coolest thing ever,” said Chopra. As a younger Girl Scout, Gomez had similar goals. “I had goals of over 500 [cookies]; 560 was the greatest goal I ever had,” said Gomez. 

Girl Scouts impacted their character and perspective. “[I learned] how to be helpful. It taught me that even if you’re going through something, other people are going through a lot worse. I’ve seen so many TedTalks and different speakers. I got to go to Disneyland. It was really fun,” said Chopra. Besides character building, Girl Scouts teaches life skills and motivates girls to become leaders. “I’ve gotten a lot more leadership skills. You learn a lot more about the outdoors. You also get to learn more about how to deal with money or sales,” said Gomez.