Economics students at Mahomet-Seymour High School raised over $4000 this fall to donate to various charities, including Christmas for Kids, which provides Christmas gifts for students in the Mahomet-Seymour school district via the school social workers.
Mahomet-Seymour Economics classes have sold cookies during the lunch hours for years, but in the past, students split up the revenue among themselves. Because of Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, schools can only have unhealthy snacks, such as cookies, available during the lunch hour, if the school is raising money for a non-profit organization.
Economics teacher Nic Difilippo met with students early in the school year to identify an organization the students would like to support. The students wanted to keep the money within the Mahomet community. By choosing Christmas for Kids, the money will be used to buy Christmas presents for students within the Mahomet-Seymour School District.
The cookie sale project also taught students about all the details that go into running a profitable business.
Team leaders were chosen by teachers at the beginning of the school year. Students interested in leading a group were required to write a paper and submit a resume.
Once a leader was chosen for each of five groups, teams were developed by a “blind” hiring.
Team leaders chose teams based on applicants strengths to make their business run effectively. Applicants were chosen based on their baking skills, math knowledge or advertising background.
Students learned how to pay attention to details quickly as they had to find investors for their company and sell t-shirts to raise money to purchase supplies. With little input from their teacher, the students had to figure out how to price supplies and cookies in order to make a profit.
Although the groups were successful in their fundraising, groups were also surprised to learn how intentional they needed to be about product care and presentation throughout the semester. Scheduling workers and product production were also hurdles the students had to overcome.
Economic students in the spring semester will also raise money for a local organization.
