Girl Scout Cookie Season begins with larger-than-life games and excitement
BEDFORD, NH | With the Olympic-style parade of flags and lighting of the Cookie Games torch, plus the larger-than-life games and cookie anthem, Girl Scouts kicked off the 2019 Girl Scout Cookie season with three separate rallies in Hanover, N.H., on Friday, Jan. 4; in Burlington, Vt., on Saturday, Jan. 5; and in Concord, N.H., on Sunday, Jan. 6. Girl Scouts and their family members are now charged up and ready to “Go for Bold” and become part of the country’s largest financial investment in girls annually by selling Girl Scout Cookies.
Girl Scout troops were each represented in a parade of flags, and welcomed by Patricia Mellor, CEO of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, the council for New Hampshire and Vermont, and Tara Pacht, GSGWM’s new council board chairman. The girls were then off to different stations where they learned the five skills essential to becoming a Cookie Pro: setting goals, making decisions, managing money, interacting with people, and business ethics. They played giant games of memory to test their cookie know-how, worked in teams to learn safety tips for selling cookies, learned how to use Digital Cookie® for online sales, and took part in other fun activities. Older girls got to create their own customized business cards, have a professional head shot taken, and test their cookie knowledge by playing a special version of Jeopardy.
“I had a blast at the cookie rally today!” said Junior Girl Scout Emmeline Brewer of Winooski, Vt. “I really liked playing the cookie booth computer game, and the closing ceremony was awesome! The kids in costumes were adorable!”
A game of Jeopardy with a cookie theme had some older Girl Scouts both excited and at times stumped. “I didn’t know all the answers!” said Audrey Latino of Atkinson. She and her friend Julia Quaratiello, both Ambassador Girl Scouts in their senior year of high school in Atkinson said they are considering the possibilities for how to use their cookie earnings. As a troop, they hope to host a daddy-daughter dance and possibly travel to Florida or other locations.
The girls were encouraged to set specific goals for their cookie sales. One Brownie Girl Scout, Mabel St. Pierre of Concord, said she wants to sell 600 boxes, and Scarlett Casey of Nashua is reaching for bold with a goal of 1,000 boxes. Scarlett, a Junior Girl Scout, plans to use her earnings toward Girl Scout summer camp.
“Playing the cookie game” on a computer tablet was the favorite activity of Junior Girl Scout Lizzie Brown of Vermont. She said she set a goal of selling 150 boxes of cookies. “I feel like when I sell cookies, I get to meet the people in the community and see what they’re like,” she said. She and the other members of Troop 30175 plan to send cookies to a local homeless shelter, as well.
Girl Scout Cookies are a powerful entrepreneurship incubator for the next generation of female leaders. At a time when girls’ needs and issues collect fewer than 8 cents of every dollar granted by a philanthropic foundations in the country, each and every Girl Scout Cookie purchase is key to supporting the change-makers of today and tomorrow.
Research shows that female-founded start-ups generate more revenue over time and per dollar than male-founded start-ups, but only 17 percent of start-ups are female-founded. Given that over half (53 percent) of female entrepreneurs and business owners are Girl Scout alums, supporting Girl Scouts has they make sales and learn essential business skills is imperative to ensuring our country has a strong workforce and economy.
How are those cookie earnings used? In Plymouth, Girl Scouts Samantha Batchelder, Alexis Rollins, Alissa Hamberg, Jordan Edwards and Razan Taani earned their Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest honor for a Junior Girl Scout, with their project called Helping Bridge House Children. They created two Birthday in a Box projects so homeless children at the shelter could celebrate birthdays, and also replaced the sandbox there.
In Bow, Delaney King, Madeleine Ess, Madelyn McLeod, and Eva Rook earned their Silver Awards with their Bow Beautification Project. The Girl Scout Silver Award is the highest honor a Cadette Girl Scout may earn. They built trash containers to be placed around Bow Pond, and arranged for the town to empty the containers. They also wrote an article for The Bow Times and shared the information on social media to let townspeople know about the project.
In Lunenberg, Vermont, Girl Scout Troop 30356 built shelving for the Gilman Food Shelf as their Bronze Award project. The Bronze Award is the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can earn.
Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, girls not only discover their inner leadership potential, but also use their earnings to power amazing experiences for themselves and their troop, including travel, outdoor adventure, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming. One hundred percent of the net proceeds from cookie sales stays in the local troop – so, when you purchase cookies from a registered Girl Scout, you are helping her to give back to your local community.
Eight flavors of Girl Scouts cookies are now for sale – Thin Mints®, Girl Scout S’mores®, Samoas®, Trefoils®, Tagalongs®, Do-si-dos®, Savannah Smiles®, and the gluten-free Toffee-tastics®. Cookie booth sales start mid-February, and all sales run through March.
If you can’t find a Girl Scout, you can still buy Girl Scout Cookies through our Cookie Finder app at www.girlscoutsgwm.org/CookieFinder.
Only Girl Scouts offers the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. We are the organization creating the go-getters, innovators, risk-takers, and leaders of tomorrow.
About Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains: Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains is recognized throughout New Hampshire and Vermont as a leading expert on girls. Our Girl Scout Leadership Experience is a one-of-a-kind leadership development program for girls, with proven results. It is based on time-tested methods and research-backed programming that helps girls take the lead—in their own lives and in the world. Through our exciting and challenging programs, Girl Scouts not only participate but also take the lead in a range of activities—like kayaking, archery, camping, coding, robotics, financial literacy training, and beyond! Serving more than 10,000 girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont, girls discover the fun, friendship, and power of girls together. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org.
