Annually, Uplift Primary scholars participate in Lemonade Day, a program that inspires youth to become entrepreneurs. Lemonade Day’s objective is to help today’s youth become the business leaders, social advocates, community volunteers and forward-thinking citizens of tomorrow. Students from across the country sign-up to participate in Lemonade Day, a free event that teaches students to start, run and operate their own business.
The organization provides participants with an entrepreneurship workbook that gives them guidance for their business plan. This year, Uplift Luna partnered with Bank of America to help bring their scholars business to life. Scholars were given a month of planning and preparation for their business plans before presenting it to bank of America to ask for a business loan.
“We learned about profit, revenue, expenses, and the process of getting a loan for our lemonade stand,” said Emma Cisneros, 4th grade scholar, Uplift Luna.
Scholars were challenged to find unique ways for their lemonade business to stand out against their peers. Some choose to offer more than lemonade such as chips, cookies and candy. Others created slogans and unique stand names. All of these played into the factor of marketing in a competitive field.
“Something I learned was that you have to advertise your business to get customers,” said Risha Kumar, 4th grade scholar.
Scholars also had the opportunity to participate in a best tasting lemonade contest where the “Lemonheads” team won the most original lemonade award and a $100 gift card to add to their profits for creating strawberry-limeade and blueberry-infused lemonade.
Scholars used their loan for all supplies needed to create their lemonade stand but were very conscious on what was a necessity to keep the business running.
After Lemonade Day scholars learn to pay back their loans in full and get to see and evaluate their results of their lemonade stand. All profits made after paying back their loan are donated to the charity of their choice.
“I loved participating in my first Lemonade Day! It was a great experience that many scholars do not get until they are older. For them to see what it is to run a business, especially for those kids who have parents that run businesses, they gain a new respect after understanding the amount of work that goes in,” said Patrick Healey, Uplift Luna 4th Grade teacher.
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