Framingham Scouts Celebrate in Nation's Capital; Meet Congressman

Framingham Girl Scouts were among the 250,000-plus Girl Scouts from all 50 states and 112 Scout councils, along with international guests from England, Mexico, Australia, and Japan, who rocked the mall to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts last month.

Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts in 1912. Today, there are more than 2.2 million "girl" Scouts and almost 1 million adult Scout volunteers.

The June 9 assembly of Scouts in the nation's capital, may have broken a world record. Girl Scouts USA was hoping to have the largest sing-a-long and flash mob during "Rock the Mall" event.

Other programs that day included yoga instruction and a vintage Girl Scout fashion show. Speakers included First Lady Michelle Obama (taped) and and musical performers included Ani Hesse, Mandy Moore and finalists from reality shows "The Voice" and "American Idol."

More than 40 of Framingham's 450-plus Scouts took part in the trip, organized by Framingham Girl Scout leaders Colleen Burnham, Maria Cosgrove, Tracy Lampl and Susan Petroni.

On Friday, June 8, all of the Framingham Scouts met with Congressman Edward Markey on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

He spoke to the Scouts for about 20 minutes and afterwards posed for a photo and held a Q&A with the girls. The Scouts presented the U.S. Represenatative with a Framingham t-shirt. Markey told the Scouts his favorite spot in Washington D.C. is the Lincoln Memorial at sunset.

That night, the Scouts toured the historic monuments in the nation's capital, including the Lincoln Memorial. Other stops on the tour were the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the new Martin Luther King Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.

Some of the Scouts traveled to Washington earlier than others and were able to take a tour of the White House on Thursday, June 7.

Seven Scouts participated in a special program at NASA headquarters, where they heard from Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, an American Naval officer and a former NASA astronaunt. A former Girl Scout, Stefanyshyn-Piper talked about her love of science and math to the elementary school-aged Scouts.

The girls also heard from Michael Meyer, the lead NASA scientist in the Mars Rover Project. NASA's Curiosity rover will land near the Martian equator at about 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 6.

Other Scouts visited the Spy Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian, and other Smithsonian buildings.

It was a jam-packed schedule for many of the Scouts, said Framingham Girl Scout Coordinator Petroni.

Throughout Washington D.C. and on Saturday during the "Rock the Mall event" the Framingham Scouts traded SWAP - "Special Whatchamacallit Affectionately Pinned" somewhere with Scouts from across America. The Framingham Scouts had held crafts evenings to create their homemade SWAP before leaving for the trip.

The 42 Scouts, who participated in the once-in-a-lifetime trip, fundraised to reduce expenses, including selling Girl Scout cookies and holding a

. Other donations came from the Framingham Elks, Rockland Trust, Birkholz & Company, Dimidis and Sons Auto Service and Jewell Insurance Agency.