WASHINGTON — “What are you guys doing in my yard?” President Barack Obama asked 50 Girl Scouts on the South Lawn Tuesday night at the first-ever White House campout.
They’d actually been invited by first lady Michelle Obama to go camping at the executive mansion as part of her Let’s Move! Outside campaign, and to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial. Although she is the Honorary National President of Girl Scouts of the USA, first lady admitted that she doesn’t have the outdoor know-how to compete with the fourth-graders’ scouting skills.
“I don’t know if I can officially earn a badge,” she said. “But I can try.”
With different stations set up around the South Lawn, the Girl Scouts learned how to tie three different types of knots, how to use a compass and how to navigate a 28-foot rock climbing wall.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done a campout at the White House,” Michele Obama said in her opening remarks. “You are making history.”
Aris , a 10-year-old from Oklahoma whose last name wasn’t released by White House, pitched a tent with the first lady.
“I didn’t know that she would climb into the tent while I was pitching the tent with a few other girls,” she said. “She told us to be good friends with other people.”
The president surprised the Girl Scouts, singing the classic, “Make New Friends,” and receiving an unexpected group hug around a campfire made of artificial lanterns.
Girl Scouts National President Kathy Hannan introduced five new badges in conjunction with the campout, the Girls’ Choice Outdoor badges.
“We’re talking horseback riding, paddling, archery,” she said, as well as outdoor adventure and ultimate recreation challenge.
After campfire songs with the president and first lady, the Girl Scouts talked to NASA astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman about space travel, conservation and sleeping in space. Coleman also used NASA telescopes to teach the girls how to stargaze.
Troop leaders planned on an early evening with lots of sleep for the girls, but severe storms rolled in, cutting the campout short. The girls slept on the lawn only briefly before moving into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door for the remainder of the night.
Published in conjunction with 
