On my honor, I will try:

To serve God and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

ROBERTSDALE, Ala. – That pledge is recited by over 2 million girls across the United States. It is the pledge of the Girl Scouts and, with little change through the years, it has been recited by Girl Scouts for nearly 100 years.

In fact, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts and this year a special 100-year patch has been added to the many awards Girl Scouts can receive.

On Tuesday, members of Troop 8260 at St. Patrick’s School in Robertsdale completed part of those requirements to celebrate the organization’s centennial.

The Girl Scouts organization was founded March 12, 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low with 18 girls in Savannah, Ga., with the belief that “all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally and spiritually,” according to the Girl Scouts website, www.girlscoutsl.org.

From those humble beginnings, today there are 3.2 million active participants (2.3 million girls and 880,000 adults) and more than 50 million Girl Scout alumnae.

On Tuesday, the 24 members of Girl Scout Troop 8260, led by Kristy Bushaw and co-leader Rachael Jordan, took part in that history, completing two of the requirements for the 100-year patch. The girls range in age from 4 to 11.

First, the girls baked trefoil cookies from scratch in the kitchen at the Knights of Columbus Hall, located behind St. Patrick’s School, where the girls meet every other Tuesday after school.

Girls participated in every phase of the baking process, using an old cookie recipe to mix together butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, flour and other ingredients. Then the girls rolled out the dough and cut it using a trefoil cookie cutter before baking the cookies in the oven.

Also on Tuesday, as part of the patch requirement, the Girl Scouts were required to meet with former Girl Scout members who had participated in the organization over 25 years ago.

Barbara Jo Newberry, who was a Girl Scout in the late 1950s and early 1960s, brought in the vest she wore, showing the group her badges, pins and the patches she earned when she was a Girl Scout.

She also told the group that the pledge used to contain the word “mankind” but was later changed to people.

Regina Boykin Cason, who served as a Girl Scout in the 1970s, talked to the girls and shared a photo album from a field trip she and her mother (who served as a chaperone) took to the original Girl Scout meeting site in Savannah.

“I so enjoyed my time with the Girl Scouts and getting to go to Savannah was a real treat I will never forget,” she said.

The Girl Scouts also sang songs for their guests and answered questions about the history of the Girl Scouts when prompted by Bushaw.

Girl Scouts are comprised of three groups, Daisies, so named because Daisy was Low’s nickname; Brownies and Juniors. Daisies and Brownies must complete two additional requirements to receive their 100-year patch, Jordan said. In addition, the Junior group must complete a community service project.

Members of the group will be allowed to pick from individual projects, all pertaining to some aspect of Girl Scout history.

“Our main focus is to develop leadership, so the girls are required to take a leadership role whenever possible,” Jordan said. “The older girls also take a leadership role in all of our meetings.”

The group is also creating a display of the history of Girl Scouts to be used in a booth at the Baldwin County Fair, which begins Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the Baldwin County Coliseum in Robertsdale, Bushaw said, where they hope to claim a blue ribbon, which carries a cash prize of $100.

“We are basically self-funded and that will go a long way toward buying patches, funding outings and other projects,” she said.