Girl Scouts cookie sales have launched for the season, as tables covered in the familiar packaging of Thin Mints, Samoas and everything in between make their home throughout campus.
Beginning on Feb. 24, the cookies were delivered to Ithaca from Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, Kentucky. Girl Scout cookie booths, each staffed by two girl scouts and a parent, have now sprung up in high-trafficked points around the city.
One such booth was located in the crowded Duffield Hall atrium, where students feverishly studied for exams.
“Location does matter,” said Sue Shipman, a parent managing the sales of two girl scouts. She said they sold about 15 boxes in an hour at the North Triphammer Ithaca Bakery, but sold 50 boxes of cookies in 30 minutes at Duffield Hall.
But Duffield is not the only place on campus targeted by the Girl Scouts. The list of booth locations includes Ho Plaza, Robert Purcell Community Center and the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts in Collegetown.
“It feels like there’s always Girl Scout cookies around this time of year,” said Janice Scott ’20, who bought a box of Samoas.
Jaime Alvarez, senior director of marketing and communications for Girl Scout NYPENN Pathways — the regional council that oversees troop leaders in the Finger Lakes area — was optimistic about cookie sales in the upcoming year.
“The goal for the program this year is [to sell] two million boxes of cookies,” Alvarez told The Sun in an email.
The more than 10,000 members of NYPENN Pathways sold 1.75 million boxes of cookies in 2019, down from 1.85 million boxes the previous year, according to Alvarez.
The revenue from the cookie sales, measured in millions, stays within the Girl Scouts’ communities, going toward activities, camp improvements and travel.
“[The girls are] trying to sell all the cookies we ordered, so they can go to see a Broadway show,” Shipman said. “We’re down to either Aladdin or the Lion King.”
Alvarez extolled the virtues of the yearly tradition of the Girl Scout cookie sales, which she saw as empowering for young women.
“The girls are gaining essential life and leadership skills like goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics,” wrote Alvarez. “[The Girl Scout cookie program] is so much more than just selling cookies.”