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Cookies

Girl Scout S’mores™ Cookies Are Back!

Our newest cookie offering celebrates over 100 years of Girl Scouts selling cookies. The Girl Scout S’mores™ became instantly popular, and are a delicious, mess-free way to relive summer nights spent around a campfire. The tradition of making and enjoying s’mores in the outdoors was popularized by our early Girl Scout sisters, with the recipe first appearing in 1927 for “some mores” in Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts, a resource book that also taught 12 ways to build a campfire.

In their debut last year, Girl Scout S’mores™ cookies became the most popular flavor to launch in the 100 years of Girl Scouts selling cookies! Now joining legendary classics like Thin Mints® and Caramel deLites®/Samoas®, delicious Girl Scout S’mores are making a triumphant return to the lineup for the 2018 cookie season. This means cookie-lovers in the Central Florida area will again be able to get their hands on these delicious cookies, while powering unique and amazing experiences for girls with each and every cookie purchase.

Girl Scouts of Citrus will offer the crispy graham cookie double-dipped in a crème icing and enrobed in a chocolatey coating. This clever take on the time-honored campfire treat was developed in response to consumer trends. It is vegan and free of artificial colors, preservatives, and partially hydrogenated oils.

Girl Scouts are able to do incredible things thanks to their cookie earnings. Many girl scout troops reinvest in our community by helping to build turtle habitats, providing supplies for homeless shelters and animal shelters, or donating part of the proceeds to a charity.

The council also reinvests these funds to further develop girl programming and provide financial aid opportunities for girls to participate in Girl Scouts. Each and every purchase of Girl Scout Cookies—100 percent of the net revenue of which stays local—is an investment in girls and their leadership capabilities, both now and in the future.

Cookie customers can get the S’mores hook-up from a Girl Scout near you, starting January 10, 2018

Cookies

Cookies: Business Ethics

Our cookies are on a mission: to help girls learn five skills that are essential to leadership, to success, and to life.

Skill #1—Goal Setting
Skill #2—Decision Making
Skill #3—Money Management
Skill #4—People Skills
Skill #5—Business Ethics

When girls have mastered the business ethics skill, they’ll be saying:
“Selling cookies is more than just business.”
“The other day at the cookie booth I made my friend’s mom laugh really hard and she totally forgot her change. I made sure she got it back. She was so impressed she bought another box of cookies. Now I’m even closer to reaching my goal for robotics camp.”

Girls act honestly and responsibly during every step of the cookie sale. This matters because employers want to hire ethical employees—and the world needs ethical leaders in every field.

Go-getter troops are preparing for cookie season now by role playing sticky situations that might come up throughout the cookie program. Families sign and submit a cookie program permission slip, that outlines the families commitments and responsibilities for accurately managing inventory and finances.

Pro tip: Experienced cookie business leaders should share advice and expertise with younger Girl Scout troops by collaborating for booth sales or helping a troop earn their Cookie Activity Pin.

Because your Girl Scout is honest and responsible at every step of the cookie sale…

  • Her friends, classmates, and teachers count on her and think of her as trustworthy.
  • She’ll develop excellent references for when she looks for her first job or applies for college.

What do you hope your Girl Scout is honest with you about?

Cookies

Cookies: People Skills

Our cookies are on a mission: to help girls learn five skills that are essential to leadership, to success, and to life.

Skill #1—Goal Setting
Skill #2—Decision Making
Skill #3—Money Management
Skill #4—People Skills
Skill #5—Business Ethics

When girls have mastered people skills, they’ll be saying:
“I get a lifetime supply of confidence in every box.”
“I’ve met so many new people at our cookie booth. And I’ve gotten really good at chatting with them about how we are doing more than just selling Girl Scout Cookies. We’re earning money to achieve our cookie-season goals and do great things.”

Girls learn how to talk (and listen!) to their customers, as well as learning how to work as a team with other girls. This matters because it helps them do better in school (on group projects, on sports teams, and on the playground) and, later, at work.

Go-getter troops are preparing for cookie season now by role playing a variety of cookie selling scenarios. Girls should practice being both the seller and the customer. Spend some time brainstorming the types of questions customers might ask, and be prepared with the correct answers. Practice manners like “please” and “thank you.” Know how to articulate individual and troop goals to describe how each customer’s purchase will support Girl Scouts. Don’t forget to prepare for unhappy customers and awkward conversations, too.

Pro tip: Experienced cookie business leaders should practice the no-pressure up-sell. It’s a fine line between offering just one more box (or rounding it up to a full case!) and coming across as a pushy salesperson. Practice confidently and politely making the ask.

Because your Girl Scout learns how to talk and listen to all kinds of people while selling cookies…

  • She can ask a teacher for help or navigate the school cafeteria more easily.
  • She can work well with others on school projects or as part of a sports team.

How do you want your Girl Scout to influence others?

Cookies

Cookies: Money Management

Our cookies are on a mission: to help girls learn five skills that are essential to leadership, to success, and to life.

Skill #1—Goal Setting
Skill #2—Decision Making
Skill #3—Money Management
Skill #4—People Skills
Skill #5—Business Ethics

When girls have mastered the money management skill, they’ll be saying:
“I make change happen!”
“It’s cool that I get to make change when someone buys cookies. I’m really careful about it. I count it out twice, so I know it’s totally right. And I know each box sold gets us one step closer to our goal.”

Girls develop a budget, take cookie orders, and handle customers’ money. This matters because girls need to know how to handle money—from their lunch money to their allowance to (someday) their paycheck.

Go-getter troops are preparing for cookie season now by practicing identifying bills and coins, counting out correct change, and knowing the amount due for various quantities of cookies purchased. Girls should know who a check should be written to, and how customers can pay with a credit card.

Pro tip: Experienced cookie business leaders should design a creative thank you card/receipt to be given to every cookie customer, as a record of their purchase and sign of appreciation.

Because your Girl Scout takes cookie orders and handles customers’ money…

  • She’ll be less likely to lose her lunch money or field trip fees.
  • She can handle a checking account, help with the grocery shopping, and even stay on top of her cell phone bill!

What’s the most important thing you’d like your Girl Scout to learn about earning and managing money?

Cookies

Cookies: Decision Making

Our cookies are on a mission: to help girls learn five skills that are essential to leadership, to success, and to life.

Skill #1—Goal Setting
Skill #2—Decision Making
Skill #3—Money Management
Skill #4—People Skills
Skill #5—Business Ethics

When girls have mastered the decision making skill, they’ll be saying:
“I make smarter decisions.”
“When I sell cookies with my Girl Scout forever friends, we make our own decisions, like how many boxes we want to sell. We all have to agree on what we’ll do with the money, which means talking it out and being okay not getting our way sometimes. And we have to figure out how to solve problems, like what to do when one of the girls is sick and can’t help out. Our decisions matter.”

Girls decide where and when to sell cookies, how to market their sale, and what to do with their earnings. This matters because girls must make many decisions, big and small, in their lives. Learning this skill helps them make good ones.

Go-getter troops are preparing for cookie season now by making decisions about when, where, and how they’ll market and sell their products. Will she do door-to-door sales (“walkabouts”) and sell to family and friends? Will she utilize the Digital Cookie platform to reach her goals even faster? And will she set up cookie booths to explode her sales and exceed her goals?

Pro tip: Experienced cookie business leaders should start reaching out to cookie customers now to let them know that cookies are coming, the different ways and times she’ll be selling them, and get an idea of how many they’d like to buy.

Because your Girl Scout helps decide how her team will spend their cookie money…

  • She can decide how to use her babysitting money—spend some, save some, give some to those in need.
  • As she grows up, she’ll know when and how to give back to her community.

What important decisions do you want your Girl Scout to be prepared to make, now and in the future?

Cookies

Preparing for Cookie Season

Take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves and get ready for COOKIE SEASON! It’s time to get the girls EXCITED to sell cookies!

My first troop cookie sale was January 6, 2010. My daughter learned how to speak to her customers, take cookie orders, deliver cookies and receive payments.

These learned life skills make the largest girl-led business in the world extraordinary. As an adult volunteer you provide the girls with training, sale strategies and safety guidelines for successful cookie sales.

Be sure to ASK your service community, troop and Citrus Council for support or assistance throughout the cookie sale. Experienced Cadette/Senior/Ambassador Girl Scouts can attend your troop meetings to help teach the girls cookie basics.

We need to teach our girls to be safe and prepared during cookie season. It’s a good idea to discuss why the Girl Scout Cookie Program Safety Guidelines are important during your troop meeting…and believe me they are.

Have the girls read, accept and sign the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge and Girl Scout Digital Cookie Pledge.

Then, be sure to…

  • Buddy Up
  • Partner with Adults
  • Sell in the Daytime
  • Have a plan to Safeguard the funds generated
  • Girls Wear Uniform, its all about presentation

And always remember to…

  • Protect the Girl’s Privacy
  • Be Safe on the Road
  • Be weary of “Do Not Enter” signs
  • Be Streetwise- corners give you access to two lanes of traffic flow

Setting Goals

Before the cookie sale begins the girls need to set cookie sales goals. Girls need to know how to set and reach goals, not only for the cookie season but to succeed in school, in jobs and in life.

Setting individual girl cookie goals are important to reach your troop goals. When girls set an individual cookie goal you typically see an increase in the number of packages your troop sells overall.

Set goals that are realistic to achieve (they have to learn how to set and keep their own goals). Set mini cookie deadlines on the girls calendar to make regular progress on her goals.

Leverage Resources

Leverage the cookie incentives (patches, stuffed animal, tickets, electronics, etc) to set goals. This will give them something to work towards. You could also select the number of boxes or cases to sell. Have each girl determine their individual cookie sale goals during a troop meeting.

Parents or co-leaders can help the girl set reasonable goals by setting deadlines, “I’m going to send 25 emails to my family and friends by the end of the first week of cookie sales.” Track the goals on a spreadsheet or cookie goal chart.

Whether this is your first cookie sale or you are a cookie expert prepare your girls for the best cookie sale in Citrus Council history!

Online Cookie Resources

 

Badges and Patches

Local Troops Explore STEAM Through Slime

 

Brownie Troop 1014 and Junior Troop 4623 celebrated Halloween by creating a unique concoction – slime! It’s an innovative approach to earning their Senses and Detective badges at the same time. Troop co-leaders Erika Grabish and Lauren Pascarella take Girl Scouts’ girl-led process seriously and knew the most important projects the girls wanted to do this year. Making slime was definitely on the list for these girls. Just before Halloween, the girls were discussing options for a way to honor the spirit of Halloween traditions, while still respecting that not every girl in the troop celebrates Halloween as a holiday. How thoughtful!

Pascarella found inspiration online for cute Halloween-themed jars of slime, and the group started combining activities from badges to keep working toward their goals. Garbish describes the meeting’s activities: “We started our meeting by closing our eyes and using our other senses to observe our surroundings. Then, the girls spent the meeting making slime to learn about their sense of touch, listening to spooky music in different genres to hone their hearing, practicing with hidden object puzzles to think about their sense of sight, tasting five different foods (baking chocolate, marshmallows, Altoids, Sour Patch Kids, and Goldfish crackers), and checking out our “sniff station” where we set up witch’s sleeping potion (hot chocolate powder), Big Foot’s lotion (lemon juice), monster’s bath bomb (a slice of onion), mummy toothpaste (coffee grounds), and mummy’s powder (cinnamon) which they had to smell and and try to identify.”

Brownies used the activity to earn their Senses badge, while Juniors refined their observation skills in preparation to earn their Detective badge a few weeks later. Bonus: the girls practiced working in teams and discovered that things aren’t always as they appear. Troop co-leader, Erika Grabish, was pleasantly surprised that the girls were so eager with the tasting and sniffing activities, but also had a good laugh when each girl bit into the baking chocolate expecting a sweet treat, only to discover it wasn’t what they expected!

 

  1. The Slime Recipe:
    • 6 Oz Elmer’s Glitter Glue (You can use regular Elmer’s Clear glue instead if you like, and color with a little bit of washable paint and loose glitter, but make sure you use Elmer’s brand glue. Not all brands slime up the same way)
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • Contact Lens solution (make sure it contains boric acid)
    1. Pour the glue into a bowl or container for mixing.
    2. Add the baking soda and paint if you’re using it.
    3. Stir well.
    4. Add 1 1/4 Tbsp of sensitive eyes contact solution and stir well. The slime will start to thicken and stiffen. Continue adding contact lens solution a little at a time and stirring or mixing by hand until you get the right consistency.

Erika’s advice for troop leaders who want to try similar activities: “Do it! You may want a blindfold for the sniff station, but we did fine without one. Check allergies carefully for your troop before you do any tasting-I know we have several, so I had to read labels very carefully choosing the tasting items, and it meant, for example, that I couldn’t use anything with chili peppers or strawberries, but I still had plenty of options. You do need extra hands to run the sniff station while you’ve got slime making and puzzles and tasting going on, but it was a lot of fun for adults and kids.”

Best of all, the skills girls learned and practiced while making slime and using their senses paid off weeks later, when the group had a real problem to solve. They were working on an escape room challenge for the Juniors’ Detective badge and one small group didn’t have enough mirrors in their supply stash. Instead of waiting for another group to finish using one, the girls used their observational skills to realize that they could solve the mirror puzzle by holding the paper up to the light backwards to read the words. Way to go, Innovator G.I.R.L.s!

Academics

Last Silver and Gold Award Trainings for the Year

We’re only a few weeks out from 2017 coming to a close. That means there are only a handful of Silver and Gold award training dates left. Shouldn’t your New Year’s resolution be to complete the award?

 

Silver Award:

For Cadettes, the Silver Award training will help guide you step by step through the process of earning your Silver Award. Share ideas, learn the most up to date guidelines and have all of your questions answered.

 

 

Prerequisites for Silver Award: Have completed a Cadette Journey + Take Action Project

Training Dates and Times:

December 2 – 9:00am-10:00am Osceola County

December 16 – 9:00am-10:00am Volusia County

December 16 – 9:00am-10:00am Orange County

Parents: This is a GIRL training.  Space is limited to the first 5 registered adults.  Adult questions will be answered during the Q&A session at the end of the class.

 

Gold Award:

Are you a Senior or Ambassador with big dreams and even bigger plans? Do you want to achieve the highest award in your Girl Scouting Career? Then you’re ready to take on the most prestigious honor a Girl Scout can earn, the Gold Award. This training will help girls learn all the tools and prerequisites needed to complete a Gold Award Project. Girls will have a chance to discuss money earning ideas and project ideas.

Prerequisites for Silver Award: Have completed two Senior or Ambassador Journeys OR Have earned a Silver Award and completes one Senior or Ambassador Journey

Training Dates and Times:

December 2 – 9:30am-11:30am Osceola County

December 16 – 9:30am-11:30am Volusia County

December 16 – 9:30am-11:30am Orange County

Parents: You will be allowed in training, please keep in mind this is a girl training. Adults will be allowed to ask questions at the end.

 

Cookies

Cookies: Goal Setting

Our cookies are on a mission: to help girls learn five skills that are essential to leadership, to success, and to life.

Skill #1—Goal Setting
Skill #2—Decision Making
Skill #3—Money Management
Skill #4—People Skills
Skill #5—Business Ethics

When girls have mastered the goal setting skill, they’ll be saying:
“I know I can do it!”
“We’re all about trying new things and having fun. Selling cookies is about both. My friends and I work together to set our team goal for the season; maybe we’ll donate to our local animal hospital or go on an adventure. Sure, selling the cookies is great. But what we do with the money we earn is even greater.”

Girls set cookie sales goals and, with their team, create a plan to reach them. This matters because girls need to know how to set and reach goals to succeed in school, on the job, and in life.

Go-Getter troops are preparing for cookie season now by discussing goals for the upcoming program, and determining how many boxes/cases they’d like to sell – individually, as a troop total, and at booth sales. Set the stage by encouraging girls to brainstorm what they’d like to do with their proceeds: take a trip, go to camp, pursue a community service project. A basic budget will help determine how many boxes of cookies the team needs to sell to reach their goal.

Pro tip: Experienced cookie business leaders should set a weekly or daily goal for how many boxes they intend to sell, or how many customers they will ask to purchase. By reaching small goals, they’ll be on their way to achieving BIG ones.

Because your Girl Scout sets cookie sales goals and develops a plan to reach them…

  • She won’t tell you on Sunday night that her science fair project is due tomorrow.
  • When the time comes, she’ll be ready to create a well-thought-out plan for researching colleges and applying for scholarships.

What important goals do you want your Girl Scout to set for herself, now and in the future?

 

Girl Scouts of the USA’s Cookie Pro 2018 Contest

Are you a barrier breakin,’ challenge crushin,’ lead takin’ cookie entrepreneur?

This cookie season, let’s show ‘em how the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world prepares girls to lead, learn, succeed, and shine—not only for today but also for the future—by entering our national Girl Scouts of the USA’s Cookie Pro 2018 Contest from January 2 through April 30, 2018.

Learn more at www.girlscouts.org/cookiepro

 

Leadership

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month Like a Go-Getter

November is Native American Indian Heritage Month! Throughout the month, we celebrate Native Americans’ diverse cultures and traditions and highlight the many contributions they’ve made throughout history—and at Girl Scouts, we of course especially focus on the Native American heroines. All month long, join Girl Scouts as we honor the amazing G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ spirit of Native American culture.

The Go-Getters

Sacagawea
During the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Sacagawea served as a guide and interpreter whose mission was to find a water route through North America and explore the uncharted West. During this journey of more than two years, she interpreted the Mandan and Shoshone languages, found edible wild foods, cooked, and even saved valuable instruments and records from being lost overboard during a storm.

 

Sacagawea was particularly key in collaborating with the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, because her brother was the chief. The Shoshone provided the travelers with guidance, horses, and the necessary assistance to get to the navigable waters of the Clearwater and Columbia rivers. Sacagawea received no payment for her contributions to the expedition, despite William Clark’s demands that her husband give her a greater portion of the reward. However, in 2003, Sacagawea was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame for her contributions to American exploration and history.

 

Maria Tallchief
Long considered one of the most talented ballerinas of all time, Maria Tallchief was the first American to achieve the honor of becoming a prima ballerina. Her legendary artistic style and dedication to perfection continue to inspire dancers worldwide to this day.

Born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on the Osage Nation Reservation, Maria started ballet and piano lessons at three years old. Her family then headed west to California, where the young Maria devoted even more time to studying dance. After she graduated from high school, she was accomplished enough to join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

During the next five years, Maria attracted much attention with her memorable performances, particularly those choreographed by George Balanchine. After marrying George in 1946, the couple left Ballet Russe and moved to Paris, where Maria became the first American ballerina to debut at the Paris Opera. Soon after, Maria and George formed the Balanchine Ballet Society, now the world-renowned New York City Ballet. In 1996, Maria was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.