Local Girl Scouts awarded for impressive cookie sales

CEDAR RAPIDS - A trio of Girl Scouts from the Corridor recently earned top cookie seller honors for their age groups.

From Feb. 12 to March 20, 9,590 Girl Scouts in the Eastern Iowa and western Illinois chapter fanned out to sell eight types of cookies, in the end doling out 1,667,028 boxes. Each age group's top cookie seller received a large stuffed hedgehog the organization collectively named Henrietta.

Isabelle Postman

Isabelle Postman, 7, is from Coralville. She was the top Daisy Scout seller (kindergarten to first grade) with 1,042 boxes.

Isabelle said she joined Girl Scouts two years ago, because she 'wanted to be like her sister.”

She advises to set up a stand outside of Wal-Mart and to 'work really hard.”

Sarah Feller

Sarah Feller, a 10-year-old Iowa City Junior Scout (which comprises fourth and fifth grades) earned the top spot with 1,200 packages sold. She has been involved in the Girl Scouts since kindergarten, and her favorite kind of cookie is 'all of them,” she said.

Sarah recommend selling cookies at your dad's work, knocking on doors and setting up booths.

'Keep trying even when people say no,” she said.

Despite the Girl Scouts recommended nomenclature for the furry trophy, Sarah calls her stuffed hedgehog Henchy.

Brenna O'Hara

Brenna O'Hara, 17, of Marion is a Linn-Mar High School senior and a 13-year cookie sale veteran, She won the Ambassador division with 450 boxes - her highest total yet.

O'Hara is one of the few remaining girl scouts in her age group, and she took advantage of a void in the market by hitting the hallways.

'I operated off an, ‘If you bring them, they will buy,' philosophy,” Brenna said. 'Which kind of stems off the insatiable hunger of growing teenagers.”

Brenna almost called it quits freshmen year, but stuck with Girl Scouts to fill the needs of her classmates.

'I considered retiring, but someone in my biology class actually saw a cookie order form sticking out of my backpack. Two days and 190 boxes later I was well on my way to becoming the established resident cookie seller at my high school,” O'Hara said. 'A monopoly that would last throughout my four years.”

Freshmen year, she attached a small sign to her backpack that said, 'Want Girl Scout cookies? Selling now!” Her friends made a 'Brenna is selling cookies again” Twitter account, and she hired a fellow student to create posters.

Brenna is set to attend the University of Oklahoma next fall for biochemistry.

'It is going to be weird to be the one buying them next year,” Brenna said. 'Professional cookie selling is not a career aspiration that I can obtain ... I was looking for it, but they didn't have it.”

In 2015, 194 million boxes of cookies where sold - which was a decline of 1 million from the previous year.

Girl Scouts of the United States of America is a 2.7 million girl organization that promotes character, outdoor activities, good citizenship and service to others.