TWIN FALLS - If movies and media are to be believed, all Girls Scouts would be 8-year-old cookie sellers.

But ask 18-year-old Haley Baisch her favorite thing about Girl Scouts.

"Firefighter camp."

Baisch and her friends Erin Nunnelly, Amanda Thieman and Chandra Crum have been in Girl Scouts for 13 years, since they were in kindergarten.

This year, they wrap up their Girl Scout careers and head into the next phase of their lives - boosted, they say, by an organization that has taught them to think and act far beyond the cookie box.

"It's given me the confidence to get things done. The drive. It teaches you to set goals for yourself," Crum said.

Crum, Nunnelly and Baisch are 18-year-old seniors at Twin Falls High School.

Thieman is 17 and a junior there. They started as Daisy Scouts in 1994 as kindergartners at Valley Christian School.

Since then, they've certainly sold their share of the famed cookies, but on top of that they've earned so many badges, they can't tell how many they have. The badges range from sewing to finance and cooking and camping to firefighting.

But the girls say their accomplishments are often considered "nerdy" by classmates and overlooked by a general public much more familiar with the Boy Scouts. The cookies tend to overshadow everything.

After a day of digging fire lines and learning the ins and outs of fighting flames a few summers ago, the girls walked into the fire-crew offices only to be asked for Girl Scout cookies.

That sort of reaction, while normal, is a bit disappointing.

"They've done a lot for the community. They're great kids," said their leader, Susan Baisch. She started with girls 13 years ago and has followed them through the program.

"As they get older, sometimes they've been afraid to tell people they're Girl Scouts because it's not looked on as honorable," she said. "They get teased."

Thieman and Crum say they used to try to hide their Girl Scout life from peers. But no more.

Once they got old enough to realize how much work they've put into their troop and its projects, they wanted people to know about their accomplishments.

"We've done so much," Crum said. "When you are helping others and you see that your helping has made a change - when you see what you've done. For one of my leadership projects I helped repaint those giant Christmas cards in the city park. Every time we drove by I could say, 'I helped work on those.'"

Nunnelley said she's been told that it's not cool to be in Girl Scouts. But criticisms are quickly overcome when she tells peers about what she has done and the people she has met.

"We've gone to hospice and planted flowers. We worked with the American Legion Auxiliary to make 200 wallets for them to sell so they could raise money to refurbish veterans' housing unities," Nunnelley said.

The girls have earned awards too numerous to list, but three of the four have earned their Gold Award - the equivalent to the Boy Scouts' Eagle Scout award.

Nunnelley has chosen not to work on a Gold Award, but she earned a Silver Award - the step just before the Gold - by helping a troop of younger girls earn their badges. Baisch put together a Kid Safety fair, held at a local home-supply store last fall. Crum rebuilt a fire circle at the Girl Scout camp in the South Hills. Nieman is still finishing her project: an awareness campaign to teach other young women about pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and abstinence.

As Girl Scouts of the USA celebrates its 95th anniversary this year, the girls hope the future is marked by young Girl Scouts getting the recognition they deserve.

"We should promote more of the older Girl Scouts. If you look at the cookie boxes all you ever see is the young girls, you never see an older Girl Scout," Nunnelley said. "They never think you can be one and still be in high school."

"It's coming. We're making a bigger impression in the community," Crum said.

Beyond the badges and cookie boxes, the girls say they've forged lifelong friendships. Girl Scouts has prepared them for college and a career and provided them with a support network of leaders and fellow scouts. It has taught them the skills they'll need to thrive as they move beyond Girl Scouts.

"Leadership. That's huge. Trust and honesty. Everything. There's not just one thing. Being a Girl Scout is a package deal." Thieman said.

Staff writer and former Girl Scout Karma Fitzgerald can be reached for questions or comments at 735-3238 or kfitzgerald@magicvalley.com - when she's not running her junior Girl Scout to troop activities.