Young Entrepreneurs is looking to open a student-run lemonade stand, to serve students and faculty, by the end of the year.
The club would like to place the stand by the band doors, where many students congregate at the end of a long school day, adding a sweet, sugary drink to the hands of all the weary students and faculty departing the building after classes have ceased.
“The lemonade stand is the quintessential entrepreneurial endeavor that not only serves lemonade to thirsty students at the end of a long day, but it delivers the intangible happiness of students being of service to society,” said senior Young Entrepreneurs member Arooj Ahmad in an email interview.
Prices have yet to be set, according to Ahmad.
The funds from the vending station will not only fund future projects for the student-run business team but also help individual students in the club to develop and create new, original products.
Young Entrepreneurs is a club that focuses on promoting young adults’ desire to create and run their own businesses. According to the LHS website, the club aims to give students “a hands-on experience of conducting business” and to “expand their minds with creative ideas to create a profitable business.” Led by Dr. Deb Kellum, the overall goal of the club is to help develop students into successful entrepreneurs, while developing essential products and businesses that will benefit the overall student body, according to Ahmad.
Although this is a trial run, the club’s goal is to have all of their projects be long-term services, however they often lack the manpower to do so, according to Ahmad. Where they fall short in numbers, they make up for in resolve, said Ahmad, of his hardworking and determined club.
Young Entrepreneurs started a similar project recently, the Catfe, where they are having similar problems with manpower. The club wants to stay consistent with the project to aid the student body so they have temporarily suspended the project due to the lack of personnel. However Ahmad believes that “it could be a staple program for coffee and snacks in the morning at LHS.”
Many students will agree that a separate vending option, different from the school cafeteria, that serves quality products, would be a nice change of pace. The cafeteria only serves diet, sugar-free versions of soft drinks, which makes the idea of a lemonade stand that much more appealing.
“I think that a lemonade stand would be a good idea because it’s an alternative to soda that still tastes good. If the prices are low enough, I think students would take advantage of the stand,” said senior Kelsey Julian.