What do you do when you really need an outlet but can’t find one anywhere? Many people would give up, but not Girl Scouts–they put on their innovator caps and get to work!

At least, that’s what the Girl Scouts from Troop 60194 in Chicago did when they decided they no longer wanted to sell cookies in the dark but there were no outlets in sight. 

Their Solution? Team up with Exelon to create a solar-powered, light-up cookie booth!

Once they designed, tested and built their booth, the troop decided to take this experience on the road and share it with their sister Girl Scouts in Baltimore at BGE‘s headquarters.

That’s where, with the help of Troop 60194, Troop 4048 got to build their very own solar-powered cookie booth.

In addition to building their booth, Girl Scouts from both troops participated in several STEM activities and learned about the engineering design process. Their biggest take-away from learning this process was the importance of making a prototype. Some of their favorite activities included building their booth, making puff mobiles and building Rube Goldberg machines.

Troop 4048 is very excited to get out there and see how their booth does during the 2017-2018 cookie sale. They believe the lights will help draw more attention to their booth, but in true innovator fashion, the girls have identified a few improvements they’d like to make before it’s ready to go. They include:

• Adding water-resistant material to protect them and the cookies from the rain
• Making the booth a bit bigger because currently, it is only big enough for two girls
• Adding  a catch phrase or other fun wording to the outside of the booth
• Adding more Girl Scout colors

When asked about meeting Girl Scouts from another part of the country, Troop 4048 members thought “It was interesting because they do some things differently than we do. They have different names for their cookies.”

And while that may be true, it’s clear that when Girl Scouts work together, they’re capable of building a brighter future for us all.

Click here to see a video of this exciting event and keep an eye out for their booth this fall!

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