The Badge Archive

The Proficiency badge Citizen has been around since the very beginning of Girl Scouts of U.S.A.

It started out being called Civics, then Citizen, on to Junior Citizen, and finally Active Citizen. Even in 1980, they kept the image for Junior Citizen and added a new image for a 2nd badge called Active Citizen. The entire time the 8 pointed star was the symbol. In 2011, GSUSA let go of it finally, but replaced it with Inside Government and later came out with a Democracy for Juniors badge as well.

The Citizen Requirements, however, have varied quite a bit over the years.

• When it was named Civics, scouts had to memorize and be able to recite a variety of facts.
• In Citizen it changed to a list of questions a scout had to be able to answer.
• Junior Citizen introduced the list of activities scouts could learn and do – but it was very different with each change of requirements in 1934, 1938, and 1947. The ability to pick and choose which activities in the list you did was introduced in 1938.
• Active Citizen changed the activities list once again, and introduced the concept that you can choose your activities, but three of them were mandatory. While 1947 and 1963 requirements changed quite a bit, they mostly remained the same in 1977.

The ages you could earn them also varied.

• In 1912, anyone in Girl Scouts, from ages 10-18, could earn the Civics or Citizen badge.
• In 1947, GSUSA split the program into Intermediate Scouts, ages 10-14, and Senior Scouts, ages 14-18. Only Intermediate Scouts could earn the Junior Citizen badge.
• In 1963, GSUSA changed Intermediate Scouts into Juniors and introduced the Cadette level. This meant the Active Citizen badge was now only eligible to be earned by 4th-6th graders, ages 9-11.

Any of the retired badges can still be earned today – but there is a key difference scouts need to keep in mind. In 2011, they simplified requirements for badges, keeping them to being a taste of the topic, not a deep dive into the topic like they were before. Even in the later 1977 version, which was much more simple than the 1912 version, it would take several sessions to accomplish. Look at one girl who earned hers between October 1979 and March of 1980.