Girl Scouts cookie season is in full swing, but it’s more than just a sweet treat.
Supporting the Girl Scout cookie program is an easy and inexpensive way to help young women in the community gain valuable skills and experiences while being able to indulge with a delicious snack.
According to the national organization, the cookie program helps prepare young women with business and life experiences, reinforcing positive values, healthy relationships and critical thinking skills.
Sylvia Acevedo, the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, explains how the cookie program helped her to develop leadership skills during an NPR interview on All Things Considered.
“What it taught me was persistence, determination and resilience, and I’ve kept that lesson in my life ever since,” Acevedo says.
Melody Hernandez, an 11-year-old Girl Scout of troop No. 364, set a goal of selling 1,100 boxes of cookies and came up just 300 boxes short. As orders came flooding in and deliveries went out, she seemed to be in a sense of relief that her recent business venture was over.
“I wouldn’t want to do [sales] for a living,” Hernandez says. “It takes a lot of patience and we had boxes of cookies everywhere.”
According to the Girl Scouts website, the cookie program is the largest girl-led business in the world. They sell millions of boxes of cookies and generate millions of dollars in sales for their local troops and councils each cookie season.
Goals of the cookie program include teaching girls’ five core skills that will help them be successful throughout life. These skills include money management, goal setting, decision making, business ethics and people skills.
Megan Quinn, a business and marketing student at Salt Lake Community College, says the traits learned by Girl Scouts also apply to college.
“The Girl Scouts of Utah is a perfect stepping stone for any young woman who wants to become a business leader,” Quinn says. “Giving young women a sense of purpose and the confidence to pursue their dreams, builds leaders who know what they want and the right stepping stones to get there.”
To find cookies near you, contact your favorite Girl Scout to complete an order in person or request a link to her digital order card. Girl Scouts of Utah troops also run cookie booths at grocery stores across the state. Some stores included are Smith’s, Maceys, Harmons, Walmart and Dan’s Fresh Market.
Orders through Girl Scouts and cookie booths are available until March 24.
