Caitlin Stark

Girl Reporter

     A decade – 10 years. 120 months, 3,652 days. This is how long I have been a Girl Scout. This year I am a senior Girl Scout. Every year I sell Girl Scout cookies. After the end of this Girl Scout cookie season, I will have sold cookies for 500 Days of My Life. This is the very first year that I started doing one to one booths and the experience… Is amazing! My first one to one booth was on super bowl Sunday, February 2nd, 2020. I was nervous at first because I hear a lot of customers will ask the older girl where’s the Girl Scout? Not only did this not happen to me but quite the opposite happened. Several of my customers took extra time to ask me about my girl scout career and my cookie-selling goals. 

     In the past when I was doing booths with other Girl Scouts we always had to share what we sold. We also shared the responsibility of asking customers to buy, telling them about our I Care Program, thanking them, and wishing them a good day. Even if you put in more effort or less effort you still usually split up sales 50/50. But with one-on-one, you sell by yourself so you’ll get all of the sales. This, with having high goals, is a plus.

     I’ve noticed that if you’re younger, you will typically get more sales. I find this to be true because the Brownie and Junior uniforms are more widely recognized by the public. When people think of Girl Scouts you think of Brownie scouts and of course Girl Scout green.

     Now that I’ve done a few more booths one to one I’ve had a couple of people every booth say ” aren’t you a little too old to be selling Girl Scout cookies? ” This question doesn’t upset me in the least. It is a chance to share how proud I am to be a Girl Scout. I tell these customers about the valuable lessons Girl Scouts has taught me. Every chance I get to let them I’ve been around 10 years and I’m not about to break that now. I feel that being an older scout you can go on more trips, or more places, or even just trying to get money for your yearbook, prom, your letterman jacket.

Of course, everyone will have their own opinion, and this is of course just my own, but one-on-ones aren’t as fun as buddy booths. Even though I get all the sales, I miss having a partner sometimes. My friends and I would always come up with funny songs, dances, cheers or new poster board ideas for booths. When your booth as a one-to-one it’s you and you alone with your adult. I, of course, love that mom(who is also my leader) does them with me, but it’s not the same as having my best friend there. 

     One to one booths also cause more stress. Ever since I was a first-year junior I always handled my own money. So with being a one-on-one, you have to manage the money, manage your table, ask people, and make sure you still look presentable while doing all of this. What is, of course, this is stressful, but it’s also so empowering to be able to run your booth completely based on you. So it’s just you handling your own business.

So, to any of the younger Girl Scouts out there, Cherish your memories with your friends but get ready to empower you and be you and your future Girl Scout history.