When senior Rachelle Lumpkins joined the Girl Scouts in first grade, she was upholding a family tradition.

“My mom really made me get involved,” Lumpkins said. “My brother was in Boy Scouts and she was in Girl Scouts when she was younger.”

Lumpkins has stuck with the club ever since and has been able to experience making new friends and selling the famous girl scout cookies every spring.

“Two years ago I sold over 500 boxes of cookies,” Lumpkins said. “Last year, I sold over 1,000 boxes.”

Last year, Lumpkins said she was the oldest Girl Scout to sell 1,000 boxes of cookies.

“I was all by myself,” Lumpkins said. “I was always expected to help the younger girls sell and I didn’t really like that.”

There are statistics that she always keeps in mind when sharing her passion for selling.

“Statistically, half the girls in Girl Scouts will drop out by sixth grade,” Lumpkins said. “Three-fourths of the remaining girls will drop out by ninth grade.”

Lumpkins said the reasoning for the large drop-out number is because there isn’t much for the girls to do after they reach the sixth grade.

“When you reach sixth grade, you are supposed to start helping out the younger girls,” Lumpkins said. “I want to help the younger generation of girls and show them that there is a purpose in Girl Scouts and that they should stick with it.”

Even though she was a lot older than most of the older girls involved with Girl Scouts, Lumpkins decided that she wanted to keep up her own goal of selling as many cookies as she possibly could.

“I want to show these younger girls that if they have a dream, they should stick with it,” Lumpkins said. “I really think they can achieve it.”

Lumpkin’s dream for this year in Girl Scouts is to sell 3,000 boxes of cookies before the deadline on March 20.

“So far I have sold around 1,000 boxes,” Lumpkins said. “I sold 546 boxes by the fifth day of selling.”

Lumpkins said she wants to show girls that through Girl Scouts and hard work, they can achieve their goals.

“You shouldn’t give up just yet,” Lumpkins said.

In addition to her inspiring words, Lumpkins added that sales for cookies will only last about another month.

“Buy cookies,” Lumpkins said. “Sales end on March 20 and boxes only cost $4.”

17jdake@usd489.com