Pikeville girl is top cookie seller among eastern N.C. Girl Scouts
By Laura Collins
Published in News on June 14, 2009 2:00 AM
While most people were gearing up for football on Superbowl weekend in early February, Jennifer Pate's mind was on cookies.
The 10-year-old is a member of Girl Scout Troop 3422 and is this year's top cookie seller in the North Carolina Coastal Pines Council, which includes 41 counties. From January 10 through March 15, Pate sold 4,160 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
"Our top sellers are generally in the 3,000 box range. She sold about 500 boxes more than most girls ever sell," said Valerie McDevitt, director of product sales for Girl Scouts-N.C. Pines Council. "It really blows my mind when girls sell this many cookies."
Pate said the key to her success was "being polite."
"If you're polite enough and speak up, people notice," said Pate's mother, Deanna Pate. "Even people who didn't buy would make a donation."
Pate sold the majority of the cookies working two-hour cookie booths with her mother about twice a weekend outside area businesses.
She said being the area's highest cookie seller was a goal she set for herself last year after a friend of hers won the top spot.
"I wasn't surprised," Deanna Pate said. "She's very competitive. She was determined she was going to be the number one this year and her hard work paid off."
For winning, Pate will receive a trophy and a medal stating she was the highest cookie seller in her troop. She will also receive a plaque for selling more than 7,000 boxes in two years. For the second year in a row, she will receive an iPod Nano for selling more than 2,000 boxes of cookies. Since she also earned a Nano last year, she's planning on giving the new one to her brother.
Next year, Pate said her new goal now is to "stay on top."