The first year that Denver Girl Scout Bianca Morris started selling Girl Scout Cookies, she was hesitant to stand at a grocery store booth because she had not yet built up her confidence with customer interactions.

Today, booth sales are her favorite part of the scouts’ annual cookie business. She enjoys joyful conversations with customers as she rings up sales, and gracefully accepts the “no, thank yous.”

Morris, who is 13 and in the eighth grade, has been in Girl Scouts since she was in the third grade. After muddling through the COVID-19 pandemic for the past couple of years, this year she is eager for more in-person encounters.

“It brings the community together,” Morris said of cookie season. “It’s something you can look forward to every year.”

Cookie sales run from Feb. 5 to March 12 and nine different kinds of cookies are going by the boxful: Adventurefuls, Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Dos-Si-Dos and Lemon-Ups, S’mores and Toffee-tastic. The cookies sell for $5 or $6 a box.

A new thin, chocolate-dipped cookie, Raspberry Rally, won’t be on Morris’ counter, but available as an online-exclusive. The Girl Scouts’ Digital Cookie platforms will offer it starting Feb. 27.

“Everyone loves Girl Scout Cookies — but the program is about so much more than cookies,” said Leanna Clark, CEO of Girl Scouts of Colorado, in a news release. “When you purchase cookies, you are helping girls power their Girl Scout leadership experience and you’re supporting female entrepreneurs.”

Cookie season focuses on five lifelong skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

“I think the most valuable aspect of the program is the way the skills build upon each other and grow with the girls,” said Robin Morris, Bianca’s mom. “As a Brownie, the girls were developing their people skills — getting out into the community and talking to people. Now, as teens they are using management skills as they begin working at their first jobs and saving towards college.”

Girl Scouts begin their journey as Daisies in kindergarten and first grade. They become Brownies in the second and third grade, then Juniors. Bianca Morris is currently a Cadette. Her next step will be a Senior as a ninth- and 10th-grader before she becomes an Ambassador in her junior and senior year of high school.

“Eating cookies is always a perk of cookie season,” Bianca Morris said.

But it’s the sense of accomplishment that is most rewarding. Through the years, Bianca Morris has learned many skills — both as a Girl Scout and through cookie sales — that have carried through to different aspects of her life.

“Bianca’s confidence has soared as a result,” Robin Morris said.

She pointed to a recent example that her daughter experienced at school when one of the clubs Bianca Morris is part of was raising funds to donate to a charity.

“They were selling baked goods and the table was overrun by hungry middle schoolers anxious to buy,” Robin Morris said. “Bianca quickly jumped behind the counter and told her teachers she was experienced with cash handling from Girl Scouts and could help the teachers run the cash box.”

Cookie sales have been a staple for the scouts for more than 100 years. The tradition started in 1917.

“I think every person may have some connection to selling, buying or eating Girl Scout Cookies,” Robin Morris said. “Today’s Girl Scouts are excited to continue to create that experience for others as they build a foundation of practical life skills.”