The girls in Troop 32549 understand the value Girl Scouts provides to their lives. Last winter, during the Girl Scout Cookie Program, their troop leader Kelly encouraged all of them to write out what Girl Scouts means to each of them, individually. We love all of their answers (spelling errors and all!), and couldn’t help but share them with you!

“What Girl Scouts means to me. Girl Scouts means selling cookies. Girl Scouts means having new friends. Girl Scouts means having fun. Girl Scouts means making people smile. Girl Scouts means going to camp. Girl Scouts means making short stories. Girl Scouts means having laughs. Girl Scouts means a happy life. Girl Scouts means loving. Girl Scouts means nice. Girl Scouts means reliable. Girl Scouts means tender loving care. Girl Scouts means making memories. Girl Scouts means making nice friends. Girl Scouts means living in the moment. Girl Scouts means so much loving and so much friendships and so man laughs and so so so so many smiles and cookies. Girl Scouts make everyone in the world happy and a happier place. Girl Scouts makes me laugh, smile, and love the world. Girl Scouts means the world to me. I love Girl Scouts.” -Brooke

“Girl Scouts means a lot to me because I feel like it helps me express myself. It teaches me to be loyal and good. It also teaches me to be a lady. I love Girl Scouts.” -Haleigh

“Girl Scouts means a lot to me. It is fun, eventful, and awesome. I like Girl Scouts so much because you get to be yourself and have just a plain old good time.” -Jenna

“Girl Scouts mean I can make the world a better place. It makes me feel good to know that I can change the world. It makes me feel that I am getting a business experience. Girl Scouts can teach you skills that you will need in the future. I love seeing my friends, and happy faces. Plus at camp they usually have really good food. Girl Scouts means  I can help out in my community. Especially when we have our Bronze Award, silver, and Gold Award. When I am helping it can also give me college funds. So when I’m older I won’t be to much in debt.” -Patience

“Being a Girl Scout means to me that I get to spend time with my friends and make new ones and get to help the environment and treat people the way you want to be treated. I want to be a leader and make other people in world problems like world hunger, homeless people get homes.” -Brooke

“Girl Scouts means a lot to me. I have fun at camp, make new friends at camp, and do adventure stuff at camp. You can sell cookies to earn awards. And you can be yourself at Girl Scouts. At Girl Scouts you learn new stuff. Just I love Girl Scouts so much it means a lot to me. If I was you I would join today.” -Kylie

“Girl Scouts is something that is fun & that is work. Sometimes you can do what you want & other times you have to do some work & help your fellow Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts is about learning how to be helpful & making friendships that can last forever. Girl Scouts isn’t just about the badges & earning them. In Girl Scouts you set goals for yourself. At Girl Scouts you get to have friends, go to meetings, & the most fun part of all camp. Sure at camp you don’t get to have phones or electronics or even your comfy beds. But hanging out with friends & doing things you’ve never done before is the real deal. But to be a Girl Scout you have to be a nice, caring, loving person, not a rude, mean person. You have to be respectful (treat others the way you want to be treated). You also have to do what your told right when your told to. And this is where the work part comes in. You have to do ‘chores.’ Clear out your cabin, help clean up meals, & other stuff like that. Girl Scouts holds very special opportunities & special memories that you can’t get any where else. Also at camp you get to sing camp fire songs, eat delicious food, go night time hiking, swimming, & many more fun activities. Overall I love Girl Scouts & so should you.” -Liza

“What being a Girl Scouts means to me. It means to work hard, work together. It also means being great, intelligent, respectful, loving, super nice, caring, outstanding, unique, and kind.” -Nevaeh

“To me, Chelsea, Girl Scouts means having fun when there’s nothing to do, doing activities with friends, and maybe learning something new! We do all kinds of activities like archery, swimming, hiking, geocaching, and on. We sell cookies once a year. Right now, we’re selling them. There’s 7 cookies, the cookies are Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos, Savannah Smiles, Thin Mints, Trefoils, Samoas, and S’mores. This is what a Girl Scout means to me.” -Chelsea

“Girl Scouts means a lot of different things to me. One of those things would be exciting or fun. It would be exciting because you would always come to meetings and see a friendly face to talk to. I would also say it is fun because we are always on camp trips, we sing a lot of camp songs, and almost every day you would make a new friend. The fun part of Girl Scouts is you get a nickname. It was hard at first but my nickname is Flakey. It is Flakey because it is from my favorite video game called Undertale. Another fun thing to do is sell cookies. You get to go door to door asking people. It is cool because there are prizes you could get, depending on the number of cookie boxes you sell. There are a lot of other things you do in Girl Scouts but those are my favorite.” -Alison

“Being a Girl Scout has helped me make friends and earn badges. I love Girl Scouts because I love to camp and hang out with friends. I’m only a happy person in Girl Scouts (or crazy person). Being a Girl Scout is awesome.” -Catherine

“Being a Girl Scout means a lot to me. I love to go camping, it is lots of fun. Once I got 3 bug bites that swelled up so big that when I put my arms on a table they wouldn’t go down all the way. It was no fun at all. I didn’t have to go home. I was OK.” -Ashleigh

“Girl Scouts is very fun, especially around this time when we are selling Girl Scout Cookies. You do fun things all year round.. This is what Girl Scouts means to me.”

“Girl Scouts is fun. You go camping and eat good food and learn how to respect animals and their habitat and how to use resources wisely.”

“Girl Scouts means friends, family, and life skills. Girl Scouts means learning, teaching, and making. Girl Scouts means the world to me.” -Alexis

“What Girl Scout means to me and what I have learned. First, I have learned how to do more stuff like making crafts and starting fires. Second, how to be a leader and lead people. Now, what it mean to me… well… to be nicer and work together. I make some new friends who are sooo helpful and friendly. And that’s it!” -Brooke

“Being a Girl Scout means everything to me. It also means Great, Imazing, Real, Loyalty, Scouts, Confidence, Outstanding, Umbelevable, Terrific.” -Tamiyah

“Being a Girl Scout means being a part of my amazing troop and having my friends with me always having fun. The great thing about it is we have amazing leaders and awesome helpers.” -Peighton

“My name is E.V. and I love Girl Scouts. One thing I love about Girl Scouts is that I can do a lot of active things like rock wall climbing, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, sling shots, and skits. My favorite of them all is horseback riding. I get to ride the horses on the trail with no help. It is so much fun. We also sell Girl Scout Cookies and these are the cookies: Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Savannah Smiles, S’mores, and Toffee Tastic. It is so much fun, and that is what Girl Scouts means to me!!!!” -E.V.

We love that each girl found something different to value about her Girl Scout experience, even if most of the memories revolve around the same two or three things.

What does Girl Scouts mean to you? Let us know in the comments!