
More than cookies: Fort Worth Girl Scouts learn entrepreneurship through annual sales
Taylor Tate, 11, stands next to a cookie stand she just set up outside the Fort Worth office of the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains Jan. 17, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
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Thin Mints or Do-si-dos? Or, Caramel deLites vs. Girl Scout S’mores.
Which is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?
Whatever the case, you have until March 3 to stock up. Find where to buy the delicious treats on the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains website. The cookie sales are part of the largest girl-led entrepreneurship program in the world, according to Girl Scouts officials.
Each scout has the chance to put their entrepreneurship and money management skills to the test. Scouts individually choose where their funds will go, such as trips and summer camps.
Cynthia Odom, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains, enjoys seeing scouts grow, tell their stories and achieve their goals.
“To see them gain their confidence and the courage to go up to a stranger and ask them to buy a box of cookies is just amazing over time,” Odom said.
Grand Prairie resident Taylor Tate, 11, has been a Girl Scout for four years, and 2024 marks her second year selling cookies. This time she’s going solo.
Taylor plans to sell cookies outside stores. She also has signs outside her house letting people know she’s selling cookies.
Taylor Tate, 11, arranges cookie boxes on her stand outside the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains office Jan. 17, 2024, in Fort Worth. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
She also created a QR code that will send people to her digital cookie store, allowing customers to stock up on Thin Mints or other cookie favorites online.
Taylor’s cookie revenue will be used to fund an upcoming camping trip only available to Girl Scouts who sell more than 1,650 cookie packages, she said. Whatever remains, she plans to give it to her troop for a future trip to New York City.
Taylor isn’t as shy as when she first started, she said. She’s blossomed not only from cookie sales but also from the unforgettable experiences the program has to offer.
“I really like to just be the best one out of my troop because I like to work hard,” Taylor said. “I hope I get to do that again this year.”
Taylor’s experience is exactly what Girl Scouts is about, Odom said.
“The ultimate goal in all this is for girls to become leaders in our community, to find needs in the community and to help others,” Odom said.
Camilo Diaz is a multimedia fellow at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at camilo.diaz@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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