These Are Some Smart Cookies
Girl Scouts Go to 'College' to Learn About Safe and Successful Selling

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Warning: The following song, set to the tune of "Are You Sleeping," is addictive. Once you start singing it, it will be in your head all day. Okay, here goes:

Girl Scout cookies/Girl Scout cookies

Yum, yum, yum/Yum, yum, yum

Eat 'em by the dozen/Eat 'em by the dozen

They're all gone/They're all gone.

For the Girl Scouts, the annual January-March cookie season is about more than eating the yummy treats. It's about selling them.

That's why 185 girls from around the Washington area gathered recently for a one-day "cookie college" -- to learn about safe and successful selling. For example, don't go into a cookie buyer's house and only go door-to-door with an adult.

We're Still Number 1!

The girls learned about the history of the cookie drive (see "Yummy History") and talked about what they wanted to do with the money they raise -- locally, troops keep 60 cents of the $3.50 per-box cost.

At the end of the day, the scouts put on graduation caps they made and received cookie college diplomas. Not that they need them: For the last six years, Washington-area Girl Scouts have outsold every other council in the country. Last year's sales totaled about $14 million.

This year, scouts in the nation's capital council set their goal at 4.2 million boxes. That's a lot of Thin Mints, Somoas and the rest.

How They Do It

Jacey Max, a third-grader from Troop 3865 in Potomac, said she tries to be as nice as possible to any potential buyer. She and her younger sister, Eden, sold 300 boxes door-to-door this season. Jacey hopes that her troop will go to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with the money the scouts earn.

Jacey's troop mate, Skyler Boots, sold about 150 boxes. She likes to suggest which cookies a buyer might enjoy. For diabetics, she notes that the scouts sell sugar-free chocolate chip cookies. "If they don't know what they like, I suggest Thin Mints because everybody loves Thin Mints," she said.

Indeed, Thin Mints are the most popular Girl Scout cookie.

By Land and by E-Mail

If Taylor Sielinski's feet hurt, it's no surprise. A member of Centreville's Troop 6166, she spends up to six hours on Saturdays during cookie season selling door-to-door. When she came to cookie college, Taylor, who is in the fifth grade, had sold 500 boxes, well on her way to her goal of 700.

Promyce Miller, a fourth-grader in Troop 5481 in Oxon Hill, took a different approach this year. She made a list of family and friends who bought last year, e-mailed them about the cost and new cookies offered this year, and asked if they wanted to buy. She sold 603 boxes.

For Kirsten Beverly, a fifth-grader in Troop 6593 in Fort Washington who sold 100 boxes, the best part is seeing "people smile when they get the cookies. They're really happy."

-- Moira E. McLaughlin