The 2025 Juliette Gordon Low Quarter

“One cannot manufacture confidence, but one can inspire it.” ~Juliette Gordon Low

Juliette Gordon Low is the founder of Girl Scouts of America. She dedicated most of her life to developing a program to help girls nationwide build courage, confidence, and character. She has left a lasting legacy with millions of girls participating in Girl Scouts every year.

Low, commonly known by her nickname, Daisy, was born in Savannah, Georgia. Growing up in the South, she was raised with traditional southern values emphasizing duty, obedience, loyalty, and respect. She was always trying new activities and spent her childhood involved with athletics, arts, animals, and loved being out in nature. Those values eventually became the pillars of her program, and the activities became significant elements of the Girl Scouts. Coming from a wealthy family, Low was sent to multiple boarding schools. At one of these schools, she joined a secret sorority that held meetings and earned badges, another element that would later appear in her scouting program.

After getting married in 1886, Low split her time between living in America, Britain, and Scotland. Supported by her husband, she spent most of her time participating in charity work, learning new skills, and picking up new hobbies. She joined local nursing associations and helped care for the sick and poor. She also enjoyed learning how to paint, woodwork, and metalwork. She was also a gracious host to many British aristocratic families who came to visit her husband.

In 1911, Low was at a party where she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts. His scouting program had already grown internationally, with multiple active troops in the U.S. Low was really inspired by his program. She decided to join the Girl Guides, the female counterpart to the British Boy Scouts, started by Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes Baden-Powell. She started her own troop near her home in Scotland and two troops in London.

The Boy Scouts had already established themselves in America, but the Girl Guides hadn't made it that far yet. In 1912, Low returned to her home in Savannah with the plan to establish the first American Girl Guide troops. She used her extensive social connections and family ties to get the first two troops started quickly and ensure early growth. She also wrote ads for the program in local newspapers and magazines. Low threw herself into ensuring the success of this new organization. She established a national headquarters in the building behind her home, wrote a guidebook titled How Girls Can Help Their Country, and traveled the East Coast recruiting members. She started splitting the large troop into smaller "patrols," each named after a flower, and adopted the British system of earning merit badges. Low insisted that girls learn various skills and not just those considered conventionally ladylike. She led passionately and was determined to make this a woman-led organization.

Competing organizations began to form as the American Girl Guides' success grew. Low started looking for support to help her program become the official sister organization of the Boy Scouts. Her biggest competition was the Campfire Girls. Low offered to merge their organizations, but the Campfire Girls declined because they were in favor of strict gender roles and felt that Girl Guides engaged in gender-inappropriate activities. After seeking advice from the British Girl Guides leaders, Low changed their name to Girl Scouts of America, established a national headquarters in Washington, D.C., and started recruiting members nationwide. She also designed and patented the iconic trefoil design used by the organization.

Interest in both the Girl Scouts of America and the international Girl Guides increased after World War I. In response, the International Council of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was formed to unite the different communities. As the National President of Girl Scouts, Low served as the American representative for the council. However, in 1920, Low stepped down from her position to devote more time to promoting both organizations internationally. She traveled all over, leading fundraising campaigns, organizing the first Girl Scout convention, and planning the first scout camping facility.

For her extensive work with the British Girl Guides, Low was awarded the Silver Fish. This is the highest honor one can receive from the organization, and Low was one of only three Americans ever to win the award. For her dedication to Girl Scouts, she was given the Thanks Award, the highest adult honor in the organization. The Girl Scouts also celebrate her birthday as Founder's Day, and her birthplace home has become a national landmark. In 2012, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The Juliette Gordon Low quarter design was discussed at the October 24, 2023, Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) meeting. Shannon Browning-Mullis, the executive director of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, attended and shared her thoughts on the design. She liked the portrait because she felt it was the closest representation of Low's founder's portrait, which is how she wanted to be seen and remembered. She said Low wasn't a particularly soft woman, so this portrait is true to her.

Browning-Mullis also appreciated all the Girl Scout symbols on the coin. She said the 1920s uniform Low is wearing has all the details present and is incredibly accurate. She shared that the fish medal hanging from Low's neck is the Silver Fish award, and the medal pinned to her jacket is the Thanks Award. The quarter design also includes the iconic trefoil designed by Low that represents the three parts of the Girl Scout Promise: "To serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law."