Sheri Samson
From left, Girl Scouts Addison Newby, Athena Fortier and Syla Gibbons are offered Peanut Butter Sandwiches as they complete a taste test of all the 2016 Girl Scout cookie selections.
As the local Girl Scout, Brownie and Daisy troops gathered in the elementary school auditorium, there was an excitement of games, drawings, training and cookie tasting as the girls were learning how to run their very own cookie business.
Although the girls weren’t aware that this tradition originally began in the early scouting days of 1917 in Muskogee, Okla., the legacy of the commercially made cookies made its nationwide expansion in 1936 and has grown ever since. Opening day of cookie sales started Jan. 9.
Audrey Merritt, who assists with the 194 Daisy troop, said that the girls not only earn a service unit for selling the famous Girl Scout cookies, they are taught to run their personal sales as if they are cookie bosses. Each child bases their sales on a larger picture, which is similar to being a franchised owner. Hawthorne troops will combine their overall units sold, which transfers into the Sierra Nevada Regional Council in Reno, which eventually ends up with a nationwide result.
Melissa Dragon, co-leader of the Brownie Troop 212 and assistant with the junior troop 713, was hosting the “cookie tasting table” where the girls rotated in to taste this year’s selections. Each girl concentrated on the taste and the variety this year offered, taking the taste test very serious.
The sign on the table reminded cookie entrepreneurs of the importance of knowing each cookie’s best trait from a personal point of view. The stations presented within the room were designated by categories such as goal setting, business ethics, money management, people skills and decision-making.
With the Girl Scout motto predominant in all their minds, the one line which read “I will do my best” was truly the direction each girl was asked to go. Charley McGhauey gave thumbs up to her commitment to sell over 500 boxes this season, because owning her own cookie business was cool and fun. When asked what her favorite cookie might be, McGhauey gave a salesman’s best answer stating, “I think they are all good.”
