This week marks the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America and the organization has come a long way since its founding on March 12th, 1912. Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low from Savannah, Georgia assembled 18 girls that day for a Girl Scout meeting, then known as the American Girl Guides.

Low had moved to the United Kingdom with her first husband where she worked as a Girl Guide leader for troops she set up in London and Scotland. She wanted to start something similar for girls in America. Low wanted to give girls the opportunity to develop as leaders physically, mentally and spiritually. “With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air, Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned how to tell time by the stars, and studied first aid,” as stated on the Girl Scouts’ official website.

The Girl Scouts of the United States’ membership has grown to 3.2 million girls and adults nationwide, with more than 50 million women in the U.S. today that are former Girl Scouts.

To celebrate their 100 year mark, planned events include: lighting the Empire State Building green, lunch with the governor in Arizona, other meetings with politicians, a new outdoor education center in Nebraska, an adventure to Six Flags in Texas, a 100-hour campfire and more.

Multiple chapters put together a photo montage highlighting the past 100 years of Girl Scouts. The following video is from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.

httpv://youtu.be/KXTL9X8xiZc

Photo: (feature) The U.S. Army, (plaque) dbking