On August 10, Day School students Caroline (2nd Grade), Audrey Palmer (Kindergarten) set up a lemonade stand at their home near Dexter Elementary. It was the first day of school for EVSC students, and the trio sold lemonade, Oreos, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Their friend Emma Griffin (2nd Grade) joined for the afternoon to help with the sales and drew customers in with her lemonade jingle. Their stand was so popular they sold out of lemonade and chocolate chip cookies! By selling items for $0.25 - $0.50, the young entrepreneurs managed to raise over $38.

The girls came up with the idea to donate their profit to their school to help build a cafeteria. Caroline says, “I know it probably won’t be enough because a cafeteria would probably cost like $10,000 or something.”

Sisters Caroline and Audrey had a meeting with Head of School, Jarin Jaffee, to discuss their venture. They presented him with a check and a handwritten note. The three discussed how the donation could be used in a positive way with more immediate results. Since the girls love to bake cookies, it was decided they would host a special “cookie day” for the school. The girls will stay after school one day and make the cookie dough, and the next day, with the help from some friends, the girls will bake the cookies and distribute them throughout the school.

Jaffee says, “I asked them if they wanted to spend the money on something for the playground or Primary School, but they couldn’t think of anything and got pretty excited about the cookies. I love their enthusiasm for giving back and for helping Day School. It was interesting to hear how much they learned just by putting on the lemonade stand.”

Encouraging entrepreneurial learning is one of the four pillars of Day School’s Portrait of a Graduate, and serves as our “north star” in preparing students to be tomorrow’s global leaders. The girls’ natural instincts led them to the idea of having a lemonade stand on the first day of school. This initiative taught them what items do and do not sell, the importance of location, and how to handle money. Day School is proud to have these wonderful girls as our students, and we know their passion, creativity, initiative, and problem solving will serve them well in their bright futures.