Back in elementary school, for a lot of people, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were one of the most popular activities to participate in outside of school. 

After elementary school, thoughts of Scouts probably go away for most people, and definitely go away after high school begins. 

In actuality, several people are still in Scouts in high school. According to several Scouts, Scouts in high school is often times a fun way for people to connect with others, spend time outdoors, and grow and become a better person. 

Scouts who are in high school still get to go on so many adventures, whether it’s to earn badges or just get outside and hang out with their troop and friends. 

“It’s become less of what you think of Girl Scouts and more of just a meeting of a bunch of friends,” said Sarah Richmond, a freshman in Girl Scouts. 

One of the changes for high schoolers is badges. Badges and other specific skills might become more important in high school scouts.

 “A lot of us when we were younger, we’d do more things. But as we go, we’re dedicated to more specific things,” said freshman Aaron Mizerny, who is a Star level Scout.

Just like the Scouts most people are used to, troops will still go on camping trips, often going outside and disconnecting. Counselor Rob Lappin was an Eagle Scout himself and currently has sons in Scouts, and shares how beneficial these outings can be. 

“When we go to a week-long camp, the first couple of days, the boys always struggle to not have their phones, and then by the third day, they look exactly like I did in the 80s when I went there playing with sticks, they’re trying to find bugs and snakes and they’re fishing and they’re swimming the lake,” said Lappin.

Not only have high school scouts shared stories of awesome experiences with Scouts, but also how it has made them stronger. 

“You have to be able to interact with people well, and so that’s something that I definitely learned with and got better at,” said Mizerny. 

Resilience and growth are also common themes shared among stories about Scouts. 

“The hope is to be more active, more self-reliant, you know, aren’t afraid to take risks, and it’s okay if you’re wrong. Like I said, you mess up, you mess up. You know, if you mess up your eggs in the morning, you’ll be okay,” said Lappin.  

Resilience is especially important to keep going in Scouts, according to Mizerny. 

“I have thought about quitting,” said Mizerny. “I didn’t feel like I was progressing at all. I didn’t feel like I was getting better as a person.” 

Still, Mizerny is in Scouts. The opportunities seem to be worth it to most Scouts, like sophomore and Life Scout Evan Ewing. 

“[Scouts] has different adventures that you can go on like kayaking and Florida Keys and stuff like that. You can go up to the Great Lakes region, like Montana, those places and stuff like that. Go canoeing there. So really, that is the kind of thing that keeps me in Scouts.”

Travel is appealing to many people, and Scouts gives people those opportunities. However, some of my favorite things that I remember from Scouts remain as part of the experience. One of Richmond’s memories from Scouts includes sweet treats she learned how to make. 

“There were Brown Bears. Those were really good, I learned how to make them in Girl Scouts,” she said. 

She even gave away the recipe. 

“You take like a croissant or some kind of biscuit and put it on a stick, and then roast it over a fire. And you put butter and cinnamon and sugar on it,” she said. 

Scouts is definitely not gone, and definitely won’t be. Through Scouts, high schoolers are able to learn skills that will help them in their daily lives and will gain memories that stick with them forever. 

“I’m really glad that I’ve been involved in scouting,” said Ewing.