The Badge Archive

As of April 2025 – We’ve updated the program to include the option of Individual Scouts to participate.

See the updated 50 State Challenge page for details.

Quick reference – Download the Troop Letter Template Here.

Project Summary – Learn about Girlguiding in the UK AND Fill out the Letter Template to send a letter to the UK AND 50 other States introducing your troop. You will also get a PDF copy of all letters from all 50 States and a fact sheet from all 50 states.

All participants will get a free PDF copy of all 50 states, regardless if your state is a repeated one. It’s just that only the first submitted state will be included in the final 50 state PDF. But all are welcome to participate and use this project to help earn their 2025 World Thinking Day badge. Want to know if your state is still open? Check our list here.

Note – The project is currently only set up for troops, but individual scouts may participate and send in a Template for just themselves and get a modified Scout Sheet returned. When the 50 states are assembled, you’ll still get a free PDF copy.

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GSUSA has challenged all troops across the U.S. to connect with our scouting sisters in WAGGGS. Thousands of troops are looking to find pen pals, creating a high demand for connections.

In recent years, many troops have also tried to complete the 50 state postcard or SWAP challenge, where they aim to send and receive a response from each of the 50 states. Unfortunately, this can be difficult if someone doesn’t respond or not enough states participate.

Introducing The Project

Our Senior GSUSA Scout, Scout K, has designed a template for all troops to turn in. Simply learn about Girlguiding UK for World Thinking Day, and fill it out:

• A signature section for all first names of scouts (or camp names!).
• A place to put a landscape photo (or draw one!) and explain why it is important to your troop.
• And a short section to tell Girlguiding UK troops what their favorite fact they learned when learning about Girl Guides and World Thinking Day history.

Important Note: For safety concerns, any photos sent should NOT include scout faces or any identifying marks.

Download the Template Here.
Turn it in by emailing us at thebadgearchive@gmail.com.

Why should we participate?

When you participate, each state’s information will be compiled into a PDF book. Troops can view it electronically, or print out the 100-150 pages that is planned.

This book will include:

• A state fact sheet for every state
• Pages featuring a scout troop from each participating state

The goal is to have one troop page for each council in each state. For example, California has 8 councils, while New York and Texas have 7. Florida has 6! Those states will have multiple troop pages if we can gather them all. Check our list here.

The official lineup is for the official 50 state book that may be available for hardcopy purchase on Amazon. Everyone gets a free PDF copy, but we’ll be putting the option out there for purchase of a printed book for those who want it.

This project aims to ensure that every troop can complete the challenge and enjoy the experience. Everyone will get their own troop page in PDF form. Only the first troop in each area that sends in their response will be included in the official line up.

There is no set timeline for this project.

We cannot guarantee when the book will be complete, as it depends on gathering responses from all different states. We will close the project at the end of 2025 and print whatever pages have been gathered by then regardless of if every council has been gathered.

Even if we reach our 50 state goal, we will keep the project open until the end of 2025 for any troop who wish to participate.

Fulfilling the 2025 World Thinking Day Requirements

Troops still need to follow through with the GSUSA 2025 Free PDF Guide.
The Badge Archive has a free D/B/J 2025 WTD Outline troops can follow.
Scout K has made a D/B/J Escape Room troops can purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers for $10. It will fulfill all the requirements AND the final puzzle is doing this letter template!

How does the Letter get to the UK?

The Badge Archive is currently in contact with one Pack in the UK. We’re planning to launch a second program to connect with different UK Packs and Companies across the UK regions (similar to GSUSA councils) if we get enough response from across the 50 states. If enough UK Packs are interested and contribute their sheets, we’ll include all of them.

While we cannot guarantee contributions from multiple UK packs, we can assure that our USA troop pages will be shared with at least one current UK Pack for them to read and admire. And of course, all 50 states will have their shared sheets too!