Girl Scout cookie challenge: 7-year-old achieves goal of selling boxes in all 50 states

Megan Sims
Updated ·3 min read
Girl Scout cookies to all 50 states
Daisy Girl Scout, Rory Clark, sold Girl Scout cookies to all 50 states with the help of her mother, Becca Flint-Clark ( Photo Courtesy of Becca-Flint Clark)

A West Virginia first grader has already completed one of her biggest goals of the year — just one month in!— after selling Girl Scout cookies to all 50 states.

Rory Clark, 7, of Morgantown, W. Va., has been a member of the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond for two years, but it was not until a recent class project that Rory and her mother, Becca Clark, were inspired to take on this unique goal.

“Well, it started at my school [where] we did a postcard exchange and [when] I got home mommy said, ‘Hey, how about we try to sell Girl Scout cookies to every single state?’” Rory tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I was like, ‘Sure, it’s gonna be kinda challenging, but I think we can do it.’”

Rory and Becca set up their website using the Digital Cookies platform, which, according to the Girl Scouts’ site, is a place where the girls can set their cookie goals, track their progress, manage orders and inventory, learn Internet safety skills and more. The cookies would also ship through the platform. It did not take long for sales to begin to pick up, thanks to word-of-mouth and Becca’s ties to the youth organization 4-H.

“We have a lot of appreciation for people who bought cookies,” Becca says. “We couldn’t have done it without people sharing our information with their family members and our family members and our friends purchasing cookies... I just give them a lot of credit. We know a lot of people throughout the nation.”

As the sales kept coming in, Rory would excitedly color in the different states on her large U.S. map — which they plan to keep — the emotion peaking as she colored in the final states merely two weeks after setting this goal.

“I was in my bed freaking out, my mom [said she] had big news, then she told me and I was so excited, I ran downstairs and I colored in the rest of them,” Rory says.

Rory’s mom shared her accomplishment on Facebook.

With close to 800 boxes of cookies sold, Becca says she hopes this experience taught her daughter a valuable lesson about setting and accomplishing goals.

“I think this is one of those moments where we can be really, really excited that we achieved such an amazing goal. And there will be times in her life, growing up, where it won’t be that way, and that will be a whole different kind of learning experience,” she says. “I think that you want your children to understand that some things are attainable, somethings aren’t, you should be grateful when they are.”

Though Rory does not know what she will do next, her mother is proud of her all the same. The Girl Scout’s of Black Diamond shared a brief statement with Yahoo Lifestyle expressing excitement for the Daisy Scout.

“We are so proud of our Daisy for following through with a goal she set for herself by reaching friends and family near and far for her cookie sale,” the statement said. “Not only is she a go-getter, but she has also learned the five key skills of the program: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics.”

Rory will continue selling cookies through next week and Becca encouraged others to support their local Girl Scout troops.

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