A group of Girl Scouts from Northern Kentucky and across the Bluegrass State recently received special recognition for their cookie-selling prowess and work to support their fellow troop members.
For the 2023 cookie season, 168 Scouts from Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road exceeded their 1,000-box cookie sales goal. Roughly 30 percent of them hail from Northern Kentucky.
This year’s top cookie seller in the region was Sophia Cruz from Troop 89 in Nicholasville, Ky.
To celebrate the girls’ collective achievements, Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road celebrated them at a Florence Y’alls minor-league baseball game at Thomas More Stadium in Northern Kentucky. The event in late August featured the presentation of awards, gifts and special patches for each of the scouts.
Susan Douglas, CEO of the regional Girl Scouts council, personally congratulated each of the young women before and after the game.
Girl Scouts describes the annual sale of its beloved cookies as one of the country’s biggest “girl-led business program.” The goal is to impart life skills such as money management, goal setting and business ethics that will benefit the scouts throughout their lives, Douglas said.
Proceeds from the sales stay local and go to troop-related operations and endeavors, ranging from science-oriented camps to outdoor experiences.
“In addition to gaining valuable life skills, our Kentucky Girl Scouts… have also demonstrated that with determination and teamwork, they can achieve anything they set their minds to,” Douglas added. “I’m extremely proud of their achievements this season.”
Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road serves more than 8,000 girls and young women across 66 counties in the central, western and northern parts of the state. It also operates one troop in Ohio.
It offers programming that supports girls ranging from pre-kindergarten age through high school. Activities center around four key areas: science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); outdoors; life skills and entrepreneurship.
Through corporate partnerships, the organization also offers career pipeline of intelligent women leaders to support Girl Scouts as they get older.