But she realizes that today’s girls, ages 5 to 17, wouldn’t be satisfied with the program she enjoyed in the Midwest.

Girl Scouts traditionally are known for cookies, crafts and camping.

However, today’s girls also explore science, technology, engineering and math, for example. They want the Girl Scouts’ partnership with the arts to be more focused. And they are looking for a broader array of outdoor educational activities and adventures, taking camping to the next level and offering girls things they can’t get elsewhere.

One thing Hutzell got from scouting was a love of hostas.

“I learned what hostas were when I was working on a badge for plants. To this day, I have hostas in my garden. And that’s one of the things scouting is. It’s informal. It’s not school. You can see if you like it or not. But it has been proven that for girls who participated in badge work, almost two-thirds of them retain something from that work throughout life,” Hutzell said.

Half of them find that the career they choose is influenced by something they experienced through the Girl Scouts, she said.

Hutzell explains that she got not just an affinity for hostas from scouting, but also a career path.

“I worked in juvenile court in crisis services and had the opportunity to work for a Girl Scout council in Iowa, and one thing led to another. I worked with the Girl Scouts in Iowa, then was a CEO in Illinois and moved here in 2000 as CEO for the Girl Scouts of Spartanburg,” she said.

She became one of the key players in the reorganization effort.

In 2005-’06, the national organization did research around the country to see what was working in the Girl Scouts, to determine the program’s impact on the lives of girls, and to ask girls what they wanted from scouting that wasn’t available.

“And we wanted to know how we could continue to do all that when our No. 1 resource, typically adults, is diminishing. That was across the country,” Hutzell said.

With 316 councils nationwide and with the last reorganization dating back to the 1960s, the Girl Scouts decided to undergo realignment.

“We applied to be a national pilot program for the reorganization effort, and we were one of 10 selected around the country,” Hutzell said.

In May 2007, the Old 96 Council based in Mauldin, the Congaree area scouts based in Columbia and the Piedmont area scouts based in Spartanburg merged into the Mountains to Midlands jurisdiction and went through a year of transition.

After a national search, Hutzell was hired as president and CEO of the new jurisdiction in March 2008. Since then, three other service areas, including the council in Augusta, Ga., have become part of the Mountains to Midlands unit.

“The most rewarding thing has been to be involved in a unique pilot project where we have such strong volunteer support and leadership. Our board and our merger board were just outstanding. It was neat to put something together from scratch, to do research, look at best practices and put together something that no one else was doing in the country based on the needs here in South Carolina,” Hutzell said.

There are some 50 volunteer positions available in the Mountain to Midlands chapter area for short-term or long-term work with the agency. Two-thirds of the volunteers work directly with girls. The other third works with adults, she said.

“We could do so much more if we had more volunteers. Last year we were at our high point with 1,800 girls on a waiting list. That’s a lot of girls,” Hutzell said.

“We know we make a difference in a girl’s life through leadership development,” she said.

Hutzell summed up the progress of girls through the program as follows: They discover what’s out there, they connect with their community and its resources, and they take action.

“We help them become contributing members of society,” she said.