Things you might not know about Girl Scout cookies

By Mariah McKenzie, columnist

It’s finally that time of the year again — Girl Scout cookie season!

As a Girl Scout we learn many different things from selling our cookies, such as each region has a different cookie baker and may have different cookies.

We even have some techy stuff we can use for sales.

Cookie sales are our biggest fundraiser of the year –– the money helps pay for many things.

I’ve been in Girl Scouting since kindergarten, and Girl Scouts has helped me to become comfortable talking to people. It also helped me when I was younger to learn math faster because I’d have to count money. Selling cookies teaches girls to set goals and achieve them. Many important skills are obtained through selling cookies.

Have you ever wondered why our cookies are called Caramel deLites, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patties, etc  instead of Samoas, Trefoils and Tagalongs? That’s because we’re in a different region. If you go up north you’ll find some of the same cookies but with different names.  It’s because they have a different baker then us. Our baker is ABC Bakers whereas Minnesota’s area baker is Little Brownie Bakers.

The difference can be more than in name alone. Up in Minnesota they don’t have Lemonades or Thanks-a lots. Instead they have Savannah Smiles, which are a powder sugar cookie with a lemon flavor, and their other cookie is called Toffee-Tastic which is similar to a chocolate chip cookie but with toffee bits instead of chocolate chips.

The money raised from selling Girl Scout cookies is used for troop trips and supplies for projects. We save up a lot so we are able to travel to different places and learn new things. It’s so exciting when we get to take a trip to a different state or region. This summer my troop is going to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. We’ve been saving up for a few years.

For cookie sales, we now have an app called COCO Smart. On it we can take orders and set goals. It’s really helpful in the sense that if I don’t have my order form with me, I usually always have my phone so I can take orders that way. It’s also a great way to keep track of how many cookies I’ve sold and seeing if I’m on track to reaching the goal I have set.

After learning about some interesting things about Girl Scout cookies, go find the nearest Girl Scout and get some cookies! It’s cookie season and it goes by fast.

Mariah McKenzie, a Charles City High School student, is a regular columnist for the Press.