When I stopped at Rollier’s one day this past spring, three Girl Scouts were selling cookies right outside the door. Of course I bought some, because they are delicious and who can resist? Then I allowed myself to reminisce a bit about my own girl-scouting days.

Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912, creating a movement “where all girls could come together to embrace their unique strengths and passions.” Slogans like “Be Prepared” and “Do a Good Turn Daily” are good advice for everyone. It was very forward thinking back then, but it still holds true today.

Back in the ’70s, my elementary school had two troops and my mom was one of the leaders. We wore our uniforms to school and walked to the meeting at the community building after school.

So much has changed for kids since then, but Girl Scouts have pretty much stayed the same. Meetings centered around activities to earn badges, which we proudly displayed on sashes. We learned cooking, first aid, needlepoint and pottery. We sang songs, made crafts, played games, learned camping skills and did community service. And of course, we sold cookies to pay for it all!

My favorite part was the camping. My parents were not the outdoorsy type, so camping was something that I never would have had the opportunity to do. I give my mom a lot of credit for stepping way out of her comfort zone and getting the training to take us camping. She still recalls (with much horror) the time a raccoon entered her tent and crawled across her sleeping bag in the middle of the night!

Every year we did spring and fall camping trips, staying in cabins or tents, mostly at camps that were owned by the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania. We learned the three ways to make a campfire and the fire safety that goes with it. Our days were filled with horseback riding and hiking, whittling sticks (yes, at 9 years old we all had pocketknives), roasting hotdogs and s’mores, and making cake in a can and campfire stew. In between, we all followed a kaper chart that distributed camping chores among the girls.

We made sit-upons and decorated our sit-a-cans, which were used to hold our mess kits and other camping gear, and doubled as something to sit on around the campfire. Everything fit inside, so all we needed was a sleeping bag and pillow in a big garbage bag, and we were ready for the next camping adventure!

One thing I knew is that if I ever had a daughter, I wanted her to have the same Girl Scout experiences that I had, and I wanted to be her leader.

Years later, my daughter did become a Girl Scout and we did all the same things and more. By that time, we invested in metal cook sticks, since children carrying knives was discouraged. One of my best memories was watching the girls play in a stream for an afternoon on a camping trip. All our plans were forgotten, because these city girls found a stream and had fun in the woods, exploring and getting dirty. I wonder if any of the girls, who are now in their late 20s, look back on that day and smile, like I do?

I hope the girls outside of Rollier’s sold a lot of cookies that day and used the money for a camping trip or some other fun adventure, just as mine and my daughter’s troop did a generation before.