Badges of Honor: Collect All 104!

By Kathleen Adams, Val Castronovo, Randy Hartwell, Joel Stein, Ellin Martens, Joseph Pierro, Sora Song and Josh Tyrangiel

Next month Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. will update its closet with items like cargo pants and hooded fleece jackets, but the fashionable scout can't pair last season's badges with this season's uniform. Fortunately, a revised badge book will be issued later this year detailing 104 badges, 17 of which are new. Alas, some badges will be phased out as well.

PHASING IN

--MAKING IT MATTER, designed to help girls understand engineering. To earn this one, scouts can "review the ingredients" of household products

--HIGH ON LIFE, in which "girls learn to identify their natural highs" and "stomp out harmful habits"

--OIL UP The badge, which encourages an understanding of energy issues, can be earned by making and cleaning up an oil spill, using cooking oil in a pan of water

PHASING OUT

--FAMILY LIVING SKILLS involved speaking to relatives about household labor-saving techniques

--WOMEN TODAY For this badge, girls were "encouraged to explore activities related to being a female"