To help our cookiebosses increase sales and attract customers, we’re sharing recipes for some delicious dishes made with your favorite Girl Scout Cookies. This week:  Samoas. Try making these or print and share the recipe cards. Samoas Sweet Rolls & Trail Mix Samoas Coconut Cream Filled Croissant Donut #2016CookieSale #Cookingwithcookies #GirlScoutCookies #Samoas

Submitted by Tessa Baker Lone Tree Denver Metro Hi. My name is Tessa from Junior Troop 59 in Lone Tree and this is my Cookie Story. Our troop cookie goals are tent camping and canoeing at Horsetooth Reservoir, as well as hotel camping this year. Our Hometown Hero Cookies are being donated to Ronald McDonald House near Childrens Hospital. We will be cooking and serving breakfast when delivering our cookie donations. I am becoming more comfortable about talking to customers. My math with counting money and counting back change to customers has improved. I have enjoyed practicing speed cup stacking and performing this at our cookie booths this year in front of customers. Thank you for reading my Cookie Story! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #cookies #LoneTree #RonaldMcDonaldHouse

What did you do for your Gold Award project? For my Gold Award, I addressed the need for free, natural science curricula that gets kids outdoors to foster a love of nature and science.  I designed a free, hands-on natural science curriculum for elementary aged students that can be taught anywhere by anyone.  I taught this program to urban, underserved, minority students in Denver. I put together an in-depth manual that included all lessons, learning objectives, worksheets, visuals and teaching suggestions. I then created a website for the curriculum where the manual is posted so that anyone, anywhere can access and teach it. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? I taught the program to second graders over a time frame of six weeks.  Before I began the program, I surveyed students, asking them to rate their knowledge on topics to be covered, as well as their personal feelings towards science, as one of my goals was to encourage an interest in science.  Very few students reported liking science or picturing themselves as scientists in the future.  After teaching the program, I surveyed them again and found that every child understood the main ideas taught and almost every child now reported loving science and could easily picture themselves as scientists in the future. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? My program will continue to be taught at Horizons at Colorado Academy, a six-week long summer program serving underprivileged children from Denver that transforms the way students see themselves and their future, while also improving their reading and math skills significantly.  In addition, I made a digital manual and hosted it online on a website I created so that instructors anywhere could access and teach the program. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? By creating a website I have put my curriculum on the internet, which allows anyone in the world to access it.  A fun, free, outdoor science curriculum is something that many people all over the world need, and with this extra education, the same kids will grow up to be conscious and contributing global citizens. What did you learn about yourself? Throughout the project I had a lot of people who volunteered to work with me.  Without them I never would have finished this project, and I never would have developed the leadership skills I did.  I learned to rely on myself as a project coordinator, and I learned that I possess the perseverance necessary to see such a long term project to completion. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? I will absolutely be using my new found skills of public speaking, project management, and communication in my future, whether in college or the workforce.  I also have new confidence in myself that I can accomplish something meaningful. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? This project was the culmination of all the skills I have learned in 10 years of Girl Scouts.  I made a meaningful, positive difference, I developed my leadership and interpersonal skills, I learned a lot about responsibility, and I learned how to stay focused and keep going.  This project was an important part of my Girl Scout experience, but also an important part of growing up.  Girl Scouts has really given me the opportunity to recognize my capabilities, and to make the world a better place. **IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org #denvermetro #GoldAwadee #GoldAward #Golden

What did you do for your Gold Award project? I created a cookbook that taught the basics of a healthy, nutritious diet while on a small budget. The book included over 90 recipes and ideas for incorporating inexpensive and healthy foods into one’s diet. I worked with programs such as the Elevate Food Pantry and the Care and Share Food Bank to distribute the books to families and individuals across Colorado and beyond to spread awareness of the possibilities of eating healthy with little time and a tight budget. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? I measured the impact of my project by the number of families my book was made available to. 25 physical copies of my book were distributed to the families within the Elevate Food Pantry Program in October. Elevate is a non-profit organization that operates within the area of Cheyenne Mountain School District 12, providing food and snacks to families with children who qualify for free or reduced meals at school. I also sent the digital copy of my cookbook to local libraries, Mary’s Home (a local organization that helps single homeless mothers and their children), and the Care and Share Food Bank, where it was attached to their monthly newsletter and sent to over 300 food banks and soup kitchens across Colorado. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? My project will be sustained beyond my involvement because the cookbooks will be used again and again by the families they were distributed to. Digital copies of my book were also distributed to soup kitchens and food banks across Colorado, who now will be able to print out copies of the book whenever there is demand. I also gave copies to my school and several local libraries so they could be used by anyone interested in my project (or in eating healthier) at any time. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? My project addresses the issue of obesity. This is a massive problem, not only in the United States, but also around the world. Nearly 39% of the adult population of the world is overweight, with 13% of those people qualifying as obese. The only way to lower these numbers is through forming a habit of healthy diet and exercise, and by teaching the benefits of eating healthy to kids so they can keep those lessons with them for the rest of their lives. I was able to spread these lessons by working with Elevate, local libraries, Mary’s Home, and Care and Share Food Program, who helped to distribute my book to many people and families that could learn from them. What did you learn about yourself? This project taught me not only about the benefits and importance of maintaining healthy diet, but also more than I thought I would about myself. This project was not an easy task, and took me over 80 hours of research, testing, calculating, creating, assembling, and distributing the books to complete it. It was through this hard work that I realized that I was capable of achieving whatever I set my mind to because I had the skills in communication and organization, as well as persistence and drive within me to overcome the obstacles I faced. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? Earning my Gold Award is a huge honor, and the lessons I have learned from it will continue to help me throughout the rest of my life. My Gold Award taught me not to give up, especially when times get tough and to always remember to budget my time correctly and stay organized when working on a project. Since the Gold Award is such a high honor, earning it has and will also help me in job and scholarship interviews and throughout the application process to college. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? The Gold Award was an important part of my Girl Scout experience because I used so many of the lessons I had learned throughout my Girl Scout career to complete it. Girl Scouts teaches girls across the world to be capable, smart, and hard working individuals. To earn the award, young women must prove that they are all three. The Gold Award is the pinnacle of achievement in Girl Scouts and earning it closes the door from one stage of my life and opens the door for the next, where I will be able to use the lessons Girl Scouting has taught me to make a difference in the world. **IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org #ColoradoSprings #GoldAward #GoldAwardCentennial #PikesPeak

In a place like Colorado, it seems like we are blessed with endless opportunities for outdoor adventure. One thing that is rare though, is chances for aquatic experiences. This summer, GSCO continues the tradition of offering high quality boating camps for a truly unique Colorado water adventure! Are you new to boating? Or maybe you’re an old pro but can’t decide on a favorite specialty? Then the Boating Sampler camp from July 25th– 29th is for you! In this camp, campers get to try out a different boating specialty each day to get a taste of everything. Campers will rotate between canoeing, kayaking, sail boating, windsurfing and stand up paddle boarding- all taught by certified instructors and on the beautiful Soda Lake in Bear Creek Lake Park in Morrison. When not learning new boating skills, there will be plenty of time to splash around under the sun and enjoy the clue waters of this amazing area! If you’re a more experienced boater, or if you want to become an expert in your favorite type of boating, consider signing up for boating specialty camp from June 20th-24th! In this camp, participants will spend the whole week receiving in depth instruction in their specialty of choice: canoeing, kayaking, sailing boating, or standup paddle boarding/ windsurfing. Interested in GSCO Boating Camps? Contact Outdoor Volunteers Programs Manger Anna Danila, anna.danila@gscolorado.org for more information. Register now for a boating camp! #daycamp #sailing #boatingdaycamp #BearCreekLakePark #SodaLake #Canoe #standuppaddleboard #kayak

Submitted by Diana Baker Lone Tree Denver Metro Hi. My name is Diana and I am from Brownie Troop 61226 in Lone Tree. Our Troop goal is earning money for tent camping and hotel camping this year. I need to sell 170 boxes to help reach this goal. Our Home Town Hero Cookies are being donated to Animal Shelter Volunteers. I have learned that when you sing songs, have decorated signs and wear cookie costumes, you get more customers. Customers like energy! My new skill is how to count back change to customers. Thank you for reading my Cookie Story! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #cookies #HometownHeroes #LoneTree

What did you do for your Gold Award project? In an effort to spread awareness of hunger within the community, as well as to rally others around helping fight hunger, I created a food drive tutorial. The tutorial was geared toward English and Spanish-speaking communities who were interested in making a difference. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? The impact of this project can be measured through the amount of views the tutorial receives on media platforms, such as YouTube. If more people in a community see the video, food banks could receive more donations. The video stressed the necessity of food donations, so the video’s capability to inspire is great. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? This project will be sustained through the media platforms which support my video. Both the English and Spanish videos have been posted on YouTube and my local food bank has been provided with necessary information to access and upload the videos to their website. These videos will be accessible for all future generations, so people can watch it and be inspired to help for many years to come. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? The video was translated into Spanish so that two separate dialects would be able to understand the message of how to fight hunger. The videos were also sent to the National Home Owners Association so that HOAs all over the United States could have knowledge and access to the tutorial. In addition, a local food bank has access to distribute the video to other HOAs and people who are looking for ways to help out. What did you learn about yourself? I learned that I still have a lot of work to do on my leadership skills. This project helped me identify all of the areas that I need to work on, such as public speaking and time management. Throughout the process of the project, I was able to work harder on skills that I was lacking. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? I know that I will continue to grow as a leader. This project has really shown me that the best leaders are always evolving and that it’s impossible to know exactly how to lead a group at all times. I was able to learn a lot about group dynamics and how to effectively communicate what I needed as far as directing the video. Also, I learned a lot about the importance of time management, I will continue to work on developing this essential skill. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? The Gold Award provided an excellent culmination of all of the lessons I had learned through my Bronze and Silver Awards. I thought it was an excellent way to wrap up my Girl Scouting career before I graduate high school. This experience allowed me to really dig deep and execute a project that will actually make a difference in the world. I am very proud of my hard work and the final product. **IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org #GoldAward #GoldAwardee #Longmont #GoldAwardCentennial #NorthernandNortheasternCO #GoldAwardees

Submitted by Liz Sherman Brighton Denver Metro Our troop sets our Cookie Sale goals high. We are a relatively young troop in our second year. We DOUBLED in size this year and want to make sure we can keep the cost to families low when we go camping. Last year we went horseback riding and camping with our cookie money. One of our Juniors’ favorite places is Magic Sky Ranch. Another Brownies’ favorite spot to camp is Tomahawk Ranch because she loves the chef. We have all made so many memories in our 2 years in Girl Scouts and we look forward to many more. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

Troop 60280 is having a great season. We are on track to meet our goals and still have a few booth sales left. Wanted to share our fun way of increasing our sales. We noticed that some of the rural towns had a lot of booth sale openings, so we booked several, loaded up the minivan and sold cookies all weekend in a small town that has very few Girl Scouts. Fun to get away and we sold 500 packages in 7 hours! The poster in the background shows their goal is a combined 2,000 packages – when the photo was taken they were at 1,200.  They are at 1,949 as of last night’s sale – so close! The girls in our troop are studying American history in 5th grade this year.  Their goal is to sell enough cookies to pay for a visit to the historical sites in Virginia during spring break 2017. #cookies #Denvermetro

Camp directors in England! During the winter and spring, camp directors work very hard getting ready to serve the almost 2000 girls that attend our overnight camps each summer. One of the most exciting things we get to do is hire new and international staff. Earlier this month, Ruddy (Kim Petau, director at Sky High Ranch) and Obi Joe (Monica Gray,  director at Tomahawk Ranch) got to travel to England to recruit staff. Camp staff fair in England! We hire international staff through agencies that help us with their visas. Normally, these agencies help us and we do phone interviews. Obi Joe and Ruddy said that this was an amazing opportunity to also meet these amazing staff members in person. Ruddy and Obi Joe in England! When Ruddy and Obi Joe came back, they were so excited. They normally go to professional development at conferences locally and in the US. When they do, it’s always a mix of camps. The best thing they reported about this fair was the opportunity to mix with 250 other Girl Scout camp directors! If you know of a Girl Scout (going into 12th grade or older) who would like to apply for a camp job, she should apply here, we’ve been hiring since November and there are still a few roles available! Check out our summer camps or register your girl for camp now! #internationalcampcounselors #SkyHighRanch #TomahawkRanch

What did you do for your Gold Award project? For my Gold Award Project, I addressed the need for low water landscaping through adding an educational aspect to the Community Heroes Crevice Garden at the Apex Simms Street Center. In addition to fundraising for and purchasing a bench, I also designed and purchased an educational sign and a website domain (www.communityheroesgarden.com). The website provides information on my Gold Award project, crevice gardening, and information specific to the Community Heroes Crevice Garden. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? I measured the impact of my Gold Award project through a brief survey accessible from the website, as well as a website hit counter on the homepage of the website. All of the responses from the survey showed an increase in knowledge about crevice gardens, and most people surveyed responded that they would be more likely to create a crevice garden in place of a traditional garden in the future. In the time the website has been public (since September 30), there have been 690 views on it (as of February 10, 2016). How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? After my involvement, my project will be sustained by the Apex Parks and Recreation Department and Rocky Mountain Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, which has over 300 registered members. Both of these organizations have committed to keep up the garden, with Apex doing general ground maintenance, and RMC-NARGS continuing to plant and maintain the plant garden and website as a whole. The Community Heroes Crevice Garden has also received permission to use Jefferson County Open Space funding. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? I created a public website that is visible to anyone, and can be accessed anywhere. The website is www.communityheroesgarden.com. I have also contacted the department heads at Parks and Recreation departments in the area, and shared my project and the website with them, so that they, if they choose, can implement the idea and further share it in their communities. I shared my website and project with family members who live in other states, and they have shared the website further. I have received survey responses from Colorado, New Mexico, California, Florida, and even Victoria, Canada. I presented my project to the Apex board on December 10  and was the first Girl Scout who had done so. The North American Rock Garden Society has also included the Community Heroes Crevice Garden in a national brochure that they published. I have also written a blog post, “Unknown Crevice Gardens”, to further share my project. In addition, The Colorado Water Conservation Board listed the Community Heroes Crevice Garden as a xeriscape demonstration garden on their website, along with a link. What did you learn about yourself? Throughout my project, I learned that I need a time plan to keep myself accountable and make progress on a long term project. I learned how to communicate with multiple organizations and companies, and how to coordinate an event. Also, I learned that I can be a good leader. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? Earning my Gold Award will provide me with essential communication and collaboration skills, as well as the ability to successfully budget. Also, completing the award gave me the confidence to know that I can accomplish anything. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? The Gold Award was a huge part of my Girl Scout experience; it took many of the skills and abilities I have learned from 10 years of Girl Scouts, and allowed me to apply the knowledge to create an amazing addition to the community garden. It was a great cumulative experience, and I will continue to hold the memories of my project as some of the best in my Girl Scouting career. **IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org #Golden #GoldAward #GoldAwardee #GoldAwardCentennial #MetroDenver #Denvermetro

[youtube=https://youtu.be/0UH2hMJkQ3E] Submitted by Nina Duncan Northglenn Denver Metro This year, my daughter Gracynn decided she wanted to increase her cookie goal to 500. We talked a lot about how she would need to work hard to reach her goal, and we discussed ways to help her reach her goal. Being a firm believer that this is Gracynn’s cookie business, I explained to her that if she wanted to sell her cookies on social media, that we would need to come up with a way so that she’s doing the asking, and not me. That’s when she said, “it’s too bad I can’t talk to them. ” Which lead to the idea of making a video. Gracynn and I discussed what would be important to say to her customers, and that’s how we came up with a script. After recording, we played around with subtitles and stickers, just to make her video more fun. By the time her video was complete, Gracynn was confident and proud of her hard work, and super excited to sell cookies. We still have a month to go, and Gracynn is over halfway to her goal! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #cookies #Northglenn