Arrow Electronics Launches Cookie Box Innovation Challenge with Girl Scouts of Colorado

May 20, 2021 11:30 AM ET

CENTENNIAL, Colo., May 20, 2021 /3BL Media/ – Arrow Electronics has launched the Cookie Box Innovation Challenge with Girl Scouts of Colorado, offering girls the opportunity to learn how to develop creative solutions to community problems. The Challenge encourages Colorado Girl Scouts in sixth through 12th grade to design a prototype - made from Girl Scout cookie boxes and other recycled materials – that will help improve the world around them.

Throughout the challenge, participants will have the chance to attend a series of in-person/recorded workshops to help them formulate and design their inventions, led by innovation experts at Arrow. Girl Scouts will earn patches for completing activities assigned during the workshops and a Cookie Box Innovation Challenge patch for completing the competition.

A panel of innovation professionals will judge the protypes on Oct. 9, 2021 at the Arrow Innovation Fair. The competition’s top prize is $250 and a ride in the Arrow SAM Car Arrow - a Corvette modified by Arrow engineers to allow quadriplegic former race car driver Sam Schmidt to drive at racetrack speeds using head and voice controls.

The cookie box challenge is inspired by the video Caine’s Arcade and international programming by the non-profit imagination.org. The competition uses empty cookie boxes to emphasize recycling and encourage participation among all Girl Scouts by eliminating the use of expensive materials.

Arrow kicked off the Challenge on May 14 with a program on innovation featuring Elizabeth Pea, an IT software quality assurance analyst with Arrow, and Victoria Bohannon-Pea, an Arrow engineering services manager, who recently led a project to develop a semi-autonomous pet robot for a Make-A-Wish recipient. Former Girl Scouts, they shared how they incorporate innovation into their jobs “to help make the world better.” 

“Our kick-off event was huge thanks to the Arrow Electronics staff, who shared how they are innovators in their roles. It showed the Girl Scouts that innovation starts with something small, such as automating a process, but requires the work of a team to make it into something that changes the world we live in,” said Emily Speck, program director at Girl Scouts of Colorado.

Arrow has worked with Girl Scouts of Colorado in the past to help its members earn technology-oriented badges, including hosting a robotic workshop in 2019 at its headquarters. 

For more information about the Cookie Box Challenge, click here

About Arrow Electronics

Arrow Electronics (NYSE:ARW) guides innovation forward for over 180,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2020 sales of $29 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life. Learn more at FiveYearsOut.com

About Girl Scouts of Colorado:

Girl Scouts of Colorado is 30,000 strong—more than 20,000 girls and 10,000 adults who believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ to change the world. Our extraordinary journey began more than 100 years ago with the original G.I.R.L., Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low. On March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Ga., she organized the very first Girl Scout troop, and every year since, we’ve honored her vision and legacy, building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. We’re the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join, visit www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org.