--- description: Michelle Obama invited Girl Scouts to camp on the White House South Lawn on Tuesday to encourage youth to take advantage of the outdoors. title: Here's Why Girl Scouts Are Camping Outside the White House image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fa7211cb20c992f/698859330b72e3c5e06e4c0a/michelle-obama-white-house-girl-scouts.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Girl Scouts](/tag/girl-scouts/) ## Girl Scouts Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Why Girl Scouts Are Camping Outside the White House  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2015 9:47 PM CUT  First lady Michelle Obama participates in a knot tying station during a Lets Move! event with Girl Scouts on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on June 30, 2015. First lady Michelle Obama participates in a knot tying station during a Lets Move! event with Girl Scouts on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on June 30, 2015.Evan Vucci—AP  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2015 9:47 PM CUT The White House South Lawn might not be the epitome of American wilderness, but it’s where the First Lady and several dozen Girl Scouts are camping out on Tuesday. Michelle Obama, the honorary national president of Girl Scouts of the USA, has invited 45 Girl Scouts to pitch tents in the presidential backyard to raise awareness on the benefits of outdoor activity. The campout is part of the First Lady’s [Let’s Move! Outside](http://www.letsmove.gov/lets-move-outside "undefined") campaign, a branch of the larger anti-childhood obesity campaign she launched in 2010. The lucky Girl Scouts, who hail from Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C., will participate in a range of outdoor activities to encourage their fellow youth to take advantage of America’s outdoors. In the evening, they’ll lay out on the South Lawn for a stargazing session led by NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. It’s been a high-profile week for the Girl Scouts, who also made news on Monday when a regional chapter’s CEO [declined a $100,000 gift](http://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2015/6/29/donor-says-girl-scouts-can-t-use-100k-gift-for-transgender-girls "undefined") after the donor requested the funds not to be used to support transgender Girl Scouts. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3942392/white-house-girl-scouts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3942392/white-house-girl-scouts/"},"headline":"Here's Why Girl Scouts Are Camping Outside the White House","datePublished":"2015-06-30T21:47:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:41:12.084Z","description":"It's part of the First Lady's anti-childhood obesity campaign","url":"https://time.com/3942392/white-house-girl-scouts/","keywords":["Girl Scouts","White House","Michelle Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fa7211cb20c992f/698859330b72e3c5e06e4c0a/michelle-obama-white-house-girl-scouts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fa7211cb20c992f/698859330b72e3c5e06e4c0a/michelle-obama-white-house-girl-scouts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelle Obama Girl Scouts White House","caption":"Michelle Obama Girl Scouts White House","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/girl-scouts/","name":"Girl Scouts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3942392/white-house-girl-scouts/","name":"Here's Why Girl Scouts Are Camping Outside the White House"}}]}] ```