165 Girl Scouts Earn Space Science Badge at NASA Camp

When Girl Scouts gathered at Camp Conowingo in early May, they didn't just roast marshmallows and sing campfire songs. They became space scientists for a weekend, learning how NASA studies the sun and discovering that exploring the cosmos takes artists, writers, and financial analysts, not just astronauts.

NASA heliophysicist Nicholeen Viall led 165 Girl Scouts through a camping adventure that earned them their Space Science badge and Ancient and Modern Sun-Watching patch. The event took place May 1-3 at the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland property on the Susquehanna River, bringing together participants from across the region.

The weekend featured seven hands-on activity stations where scouts learned about space weather, experimented with polarized sunglasses and UV beads, and walked a scaled model of the solar system. They practiced using Sunspotter telescopes to observe the sun safely and role-played different careers needed for NASA missions.

Troops were divided into groups named after constellations like Ursa Major, Leo, and Orion, spending about 45 minutes at each station. As darkness fell on Friday and Saturday nights, the scouts turned their eyes skyward for star gazing activities, successfully spotting Jupiter through telescopes.

The event drew on resources from NASA's Heliophysics Education Activation Team and the PUNCH mission, which studies the sun's corona. High school seniors led five of the seven stations, gaining valuable mentoring experience by teaching younger scouts the same concepts they'd learned weeks earlier.

Why This Inspires

The campfire on Saturday night revealed just how deeply the experience resonated. About half the skits that Girl Scouts performed were about space, the sun, astronauts, or exploring Mars, transforming traditional camping entertainment into celebrations of scientific discovery.

The career station proved particularly impactful, showing scouts that space exploration needs diverse talents. Viall emphasized that missions succeed because of teams that include communicators, artists, writers, and financial experts working alongside scientists and engineers.

Older Girl Scouts discovered their own leadership potential through the experience. Viall met with senior troops more than a month before the event, teaching them activities and brainstorming the best ways to share knowledge with younger scouts.

The event was so popular that it reached maximum capacity quickly. Three additional troops remained on the waitlist, prompting Viall to visit 30 more girls at their troop meetings for special Space Science lessons.

Girl Scouts of the USA has offered Space Science badges for kindergarten through twelfth grade since 2019, and this weekend marked the official debut of the Ancient and Modern Sun-Watching patch after a prototype event in Texas two years earlier.

These 165 young women left camp with more than patches and badges—they carried home the knowledge that space science welcomes everyone ready to look up and wonder.