URBANDALE, Iowa —

Each year, thousands of young Iowa girls build courage, confidence and character through Girl Scouts. There is a troop in Central Iowa also breaking barriers. Troop 535 celebrates culture as the state's first and only bilingual troop.

At the group's first meeting of the school year, troop leader Marlu Abarca greets the girls and their parents with a friendly, "Hola!" For the majority of girls in the troop, Spanish is their first language, including Abarca.

"I think the parents, especially, feel very comfortable being able to express themselves in their own language," she says. "It allows them to engage more with their girls' lives and their activities."

Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa says it's intentional about better connecting with families whose first language is not

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