Clarity Among the Cookie Chaos
By: VICTORIA CISNEROS, Student Writer
Outside her office, cars race down Shaw Avenue passing a vibrant green and white banner that reads, ‘The Cookies Are Here.’ The rush of traffic diffuses into a steady hum that can be heard inside her office.
Jordan King (2013), Director of Marketing and Communications at Girl Scouts of Central California South, acts with a graceful urgency — attending to pressing phone calls, promptly answering emails and working through another cookie season; a time she calls her ‘finals week.’
Throughout the year, but especially during cookie season, King relies on Fresno State Service Learning students to help meet her department’s goals and deadlines as she is only staffed with one other full time employee.
“Every year our department thrives with about 12 Service learning students. We really depend on the Richter Center at Fresno State, the Media, Communications and Journalism (MCJ) Service Learning students, the Craig School of Business Service Learning students.”
King remembers her days as an MCJ student and the feeling of wanting to improve her own skills in preparation for the job market. With this in mind, she designs volunteer work based on what her student workers are interested in learning.
“As an organization, we need so many things that we know we’re going to be able to provide them whatever they’re looking for. Whether they want to strengthen their writing, add volunteer work to their resume, work on a business strategy or work on a marketing campaign. We’re able to put them in those areas, so not only do we benefit from that, but they leave with something to add to their portfolio.”
Many of the Fresno State students that engage with the company through the service learning program have become full time staff members upon graduation, including King herself, who started with the company as an intern during her senior year.
King and her team work to help each Girl Scout be successful in their cookie-driven business ventures. In addition to continually promoting standard business procedures, the cookie program recently pushed for the integration of technology, launching a new app and personalized website option.
“In today’s business world, you can’t just use pen and paper. You can’t just use a calculator. It involves technology, apps, emails and thank-yous. “
The Cookie Finder app is a mobile device feature that helps customers locate the nearest cookie vendor, while the customizable webpage allows for the expansion of their customer base through shipping and email capabilities.
Girls can email thank-yous to customers who either buy cookies or donate money toward sending cookies to local military and food banks, including the Fresno State Student Cupboard.
Every year, girls who sell more than 1000 packages of cookies are recognized with the Super Seller Secret Society Honors (SSSSH) and given the opportunity to go through a comprehensive media training.
“All of our media training volunteers are actually Fresno State students, specifically MCJ. We all are familiar with social media and what helps or might hinder an organization or company.”
King acknowledges that the Fresno State public relations and marketing curriculum inevitably trickles down to their girls.
“These girls really are running a business and to run any successful business nowadays, it means you have to have strong marketing, public relations, creativity, and out of the box thinking. We want to make sure that these girls are ethical, mature, strong, independent leaders and that that will carry with them through their life.”
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