Girl Scouts Timeline
1980s

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Left: Girl Scouts receive lessons on fire safety and explore careers in fire-fighting. Right: Nancy Reagan, First Lady and Girl Scout Honorary President, discusses the "Just Say No to Drugs" campaign.

Prisons overflowed with inmates as violent crime rates climbed and the AIDS virus reached epidemic proportions. In 1986, the nation mourned when the spacecraft Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts, including school teacher and Girl Scout alumna, Christa McAuliffe. In good news: Sandra Day O'Connor, also a Girl Scout alumna, became the first female Supreme Court Justice.

• The Contemporary Issues series was developed in the 1980s to help girls and their families deal with serious social issues. The first, Tune In to Well Being, Say No to Drugs, was introduced in collaboration with a project initiated by First Lady Nancy Reagan. Subsequent publications dealt with issues such as child abuse, youth suicide, literacy, and pluralism.



• Project Safe Time was introduced for girls whose parents were not home to care for them after school.



• Management guru Peter Drucker cited the Girl Scouts as his choice for the best-managed organization.



• New badges included Computer Fun, Aerospace, and Business-Wise.



• A new Daisy Girl Scout age–level for girls five years old or in kindergarten was introduced.



• The Edith Macy Conference Center opened in New York State.



• Girl Scouts immersed themselves in a Global Understanding project on five topics: health care, hunger, literacy, natural resources, and cultural heritage.