Marillah King knows just how tasty success can be.
Last year the 17-year-old Pflugerville teen sold more than 7,200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, breaking the record for the most boxes ever sold in Central Texas. The feat was accomplished through years of hard work and support from her community, which Marillah said made all the difference.
“Pflugerville has gathered behind me every step of the way,” she said. “The community has been there for every broken record, every box sold.”
That support was stronger than ever as Marillah held her “Last Cookie Booth” Friday after 12 years of smashing Girl Scout records and raising over $144,000. With Pflugerville behind her, Marillah sold 600 boxes by the end of the night. By Sunday night, she had reached her goal of selling 10,000 boxes.
“I’m sad that my time selling cookies is coming to an end, but last night was amazing,” she said. “So many people came, it was one customer after another. My troop came out to buy cookies, too. It reminded me of being little again and working with my friends.”
With 40,000 boxes of sold cookies under her belt, the Pflugerville High School senior is also grateful for her schoolmates and teachers pitching in.
“Pflugerville High School really encouraged me to keep selling,” she said. “I’ve had students, teachers and staff buy from me. I’ve probably sold 2,000 boxes just at school.
“I’m sort of known as the ‘crazy cookie girl’,” she laughed.
Amie King, Marillah’s mother, said she believes her daughter’s success as a Girl Scout has inspired her to become the strong-willed woman she is today.
“It’s been exciting to watch Marillah grow and develop through Girl Scouts,” she said. “When she started I wondered where the organization would take her and how dedicated she would be to it. Over the years I’ve watched her handle a business and accomplish goals.”
Amie King said she was especially proud of her daughter creating a scholarship. Marillah’s closeness to her troop led her to use part of her earnings to send fellow Scouts to camp through her sister-to-sister “Campership Program”, a need-based scholarship which sent three Central Texas Girl Scouts to camp last year.
Marillah said the program is a way to give back to an organization that has shaped her life.
“It means the world to me to leave a legacy behind,” she said. “I’m so glad I could give back to the Scouts before heading to college.”
Marillah is taking her business skills to the University of Texas at Austin this fall. She was accepted into the McCombs School of Business earlier this year after she wrote an essay attributing her business savvy to her time as a Girl Scout.
“I am proud to be a Girl Scout, happy that I’ve been given the opportunities to explore my passions through this group and that discovering my love of marketing and sales in the last 11 cookie seasons led me to the degree plan I hope to pursue at the University of Texas at Austin,” she wrote.
As she reflects on the last decade of her life, Marillah can’t help but to be thankful for what the Girl Scouts of Central Texas gave her.
“Girl Scouts has changed my life,” she said. “I think my time as a Scout has put me ahead of the game in college, especially as I continue my business career. Selling cookies prepared me for what’s to come.”
Credit: Source link
