Olivia: Tirelessly Committed to Helping Those in Need
Olivia P., a twelve-year-old from Suffolk County, New York, is one of the determined faces on the front of the NEW Do-si-dos®/Peanut Butter Sandwich boxes! With six years of Girl Scouting, and a Girl Scout Silver Award and Bronze Award already under her belt, Olivia is making strides and building bridges wherever she goes.
“There are no words to describe how I feel to be featured on the new Girl Scout Cookie box!” Olivia exclaims. “I’m elated and honored, and I can't wait to sell a few thousand boxes. It feels like a dream. I met so many girls from all over the country, and I felt like a star!”
“There are no words to describe how I feel to be featured on the new Girl Scout Cookie box!” Olivia exclaims.
Girl Scouts is also thrilled to have a selfless star like Olivia on our cookie boxes! With over 25,000 cookie boxes sold, this top seller for her county has repeatedly donated all her prizes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, including a computer and an American Girl doll.
And Olivia’s selfless acts don’t stop there. At the young age of seven, she and her parents launched Easter Baskets by Olivia to make sure children in local homeless shelters received Easter baskets. The parent/daughter team assembled close to 300 baskets every year! Along with her troop, Olivia has also created a yearly tradition to make breakfast and brunch to honor local veterans and has used the troop’s cookie money to make personal hygiene packages for neighboring shelters. When the devastating Hurricane Maria hit around Olivia’s birthday in 2017, she asked everyone attending her party to bring hurricane relief supplies instead of gifts, which she donated to the National Guard. Even on a day celebrating herself, Olivia’s kindness and generosity knows no bounds.
Olivia shares her love of robots with her Girl Scout sisters on the new Do-si-dos®/Peanut Butter sandwich Girl Scout Cookie box!
“I think it’s a mature thing to be giving and help people,” Olivia’s dad Darien said proudly. “Girl Scouts provides a clear path and a vehicle to help other people. At Girl Scouts, you start young and you can work with older girls to do more. It has given her a real vehicle to do what she wants to do.”
“Girl Scouts provides a clear path and a vehicle to help other people,” said Darien, Olivia’s dad. “At Girl Scouts, you start young and you can work with older girls to do more. It has given her a real vehicle to do what she wants to do.”
Aside from saving the world one helping hand at a time, Olivia also wants to become a robotics programmer. As part of an all-girl robotics team, she works to embrace and solve challenges, and the support of her teammates has encouraged her to code, build, program, and compete through Girl Scouts.
“For Christmas I got a LEGO robot, but I didn't really know how to program it,” Olivia says. “Luckily I was introduced to the Girl Scout Robotics Team, which happens to compete using the same robot I had. Now not only can I program a robot, but I can also build and engineer one. I have a mentor and a coach who helps me, and I’ve already taken part in competitions with my team. I now know that this is what I want to be when I grow up—an engineer! I feel really empowered to see that girls can compete and do just as good as the boys.”
“For Christmas I got a LEGO robot, but I didn't really know how to program it,” Olivia says. “Luckily I was introduced to the Girl Scout Robotics Team, which happens to compete using the same robot I had. Now not only can I program a robot, but I can also build and engineer one.”
As part of her inspiring journey, Olivia has also traveled to Savannah, Georgia, to explore Juliette Gordon Low’s life, as well as to the United Nations through Girls in Politics. All these experiences have given her the motivation and self-assurance to recognize that she and other girls can make a huge difference in the world.
We can’t wait to see what Olivia does next. At twelve years old, she’s already mentored Brownies and Daisies and helped fifth graders by making wood locker models for them to practice opening locks on before they had to use an actual locker—what a great way to set them up for success!
With caring Girl Scout mentors by her side, Olivia keeps proving that paying it forward pays in more ways than one. So when you look at the new Do-si-dos®/Peanut Butter Sandwich boxes, think of Olivia and her Girl Scout sisters’ tenacious and giving spirit!
