History, Badges, and Big Dreams: Shoreline Scouts leave their mark on the museum wall

St. Luke Girl Scout Troop teams up with the DAR and Shoreline Historical Museum for a day of history, laughter, and a question nobody saw coming: “Who is the Big Sister?”

Submitted by Peter Puget Chapter, NSDAR and St. Luke Girl Scout Troop 45312 · Shoreline, WA

Something remarkable happened at the Shoreline Historical Museum this May. The girls of St. Luke Girl Scout (GS) Troop 45312 arrived ready to learn history — and left having made it. 

They sang songs, suited up in archival gloves for a behind-the-scenes museum tour, traded handmade SWAPs (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere), earned a Scout badge, and sealed a time capsule for a girl not yet born. Not a bad afternoon for a group of 11 year olds.

The occasion was the “Sisters in Time” program created in partnership with the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) Peter Puget Chapter and the Shoreline Historical Museum. 

With 2026 marking America’s 250th birthday, the timing was perfect for a program celebrating the women woven into every chapter of that story — and placing today’s scouts squarely in that line.

The centerpiece is a living timeline, called “Women Who Dared” that the scouts built themselves. Each girl received laminated cards featuring women from 1776 to 2026 — Abigail Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Sally Ride, and 19 others — then one by one walked to the gallery wall and placed them in order. 

At the 1912 card for Juliette Gordon Low and the 1890 card for the DAR founding, the girls were asked: “If we are Sisters Through Time, who is the Big Sister?”

(Visit the exhibit and find out!) At the 1920 Women’s Suffrage card, each scout held a collection of real Susan B. Anthony coins and history passed hand to hand.

Then came the letter. U.S. Senator Patty Murray — herself a former Shoreline Girl Scout — sent a personal note to the troop. A Scout read it aloud while the girls stood at the completed timeline, right beside Senator Murray’s own card. “She’s on our timeline!” said one scout, eyes wide. The finished display, “Women Who Dared,” is now on exhibit at the Shoreline Historical Museum.

The day closed with letters sealed in a time capsule, to be opened in 2126. Before writing, the troop was asked: “What do you hope is still the same a hundred years from now?” 

The girls hoped for peace. For kindness. For a world where everyone is treated fairly. And — with great feeling — for Trader Joe’s. (Some things are worth preserving.) 

Those letters, along with SWAPs, empty GS cookie boxes, a GS song book, and a DAR storybook, are now archived and waiting for a scout in 2126 to find them. 

The Girl Scout Leaders and DAR Peter Puget Chapter Regent led the badge ceremony that followed, presenting each girl with her Girl Scout Way badge and an official certificate of participation. With parents in attendance, there were loads of cheers.

These girls are not the end of this story — they are its next chapter. The “Women Who Dared” exhibit is now on display and open to the public at the Shoreline Historical Museum, 18501 Linden Ave N, Shoreline WA 98133. Visit shorelinemuseum.org for hours and group visit information.