The scrumptious time of year when you can eat your way through countless boxes of Girl Scout cookies has passed, but the glory remains for one 12-year-old Co-op City resident and girl scout, who achieved top Bronx seller this year.
SaRayna Levin of Girl Scouts of Greater New York Troop #1675 sold a whopping 1,134 boxes during her first year as a scout.
The hard work of selling to family, residents of her 33-story apartment building and members of her church paid off, and she not only gets the title of top Bronx seller, she also received a laptop computer for selling more than 1,000 boxes and was honored at a ceremony at Yankee Stadium.
“I was kind of nervous, but it was actually really fun,” said Levin, who added that participating in girl scouts helped her come out of her shell.
“I like selling cookies,” Levin said. “I find it fun getting to talk to people and it helps me speak up.”
The cookie sales program teaches money management, decision-making, goal-setting, people skills and business ethics.
It also exposed Levin and her younger sister, who won top Bronx seller last year, to the world of moneymaking, something their parents have not minded.
The house has never been cleaner, as the girls are motivated to do chores for allowance, said their mother, Tisje Ingram.
“I’ve been telling my husband that I wake up and the girls make me breakfast,” Ingram laughed. “It’s so wonderful.”
The girl scouts’ program has not only taught responsibility and the value of work but also has served as an opportunity for the family to come together to sell cookies, with Ingram printing out order sheets and spreading the word months before the cookies are sent to be sold and bringing cookies to sell to family and friends through social media and to work.
“With social media, that’s the greatest thing,” Ingram said. “I start in December and tell people, ‘Hey, the cookies are coming.’ So people want three of this, five of this, so by the time the sheet comes, you’re already ahead of the game.”
The sisters’ motivation seems to run in the family. After hearing about the possibility of earning top seller, their goal-oriented mother said, “Oh, we’re going to make that! How do we do it?”
The girls are not stopping at simply winning top Bronx seller, though, as they plan to sell even more cookies in the future.
“We’re going to try to sell cookies together to raise a higher goal next year,” SaRayna Levin said. “We are going to try and do it together.”
