BY DISHA DHINGRA
The Lollipop Shop has recently reopened to the students and staff at school. Originally started in 2018, prior to Covid, the lollipop shop opened back up on March 14 of this year. You can buy items on Wednesday and Thursday during lunch periods five and seven, as well as every day in room 133 from 1:15 to 2 P.M.
Katherine Crain, the faculty advisor of the lollipop shop said, “We started doing this to give our job coaching students transferable job skills. They are learning how to market and advertise, process orders, make the lollipops, package the lollipops, and sell them.”
The shop sells chocolate lollipops, chocolate covered Oreos, and chocolate covered pretzels for one dollar each. “The profits go to our job coaching students. At the end of the year, we take them on a trip which the profits will cover,” said Crain.
Everything at the shop is homemade and made during their in-house coaching periods on Wednesday and Thursday. “The students in each Transition Planning class are responsible for creating, packaging, and selling sweets. Our students are expected to facilitate each sale by finding customers, selling items, and handling the cash with each sale,” said Brooke Chlebowski, one of the co-advisors of the shop.
The students, for the most part, handle the business. Victoria Krol, one of the students that works at the lollipop shop says, “My job is to melt, package and sell the chocolates.”
For some students, handling a business is challenging, but some enjoy it. Kelly Higgens, one of the students that works at the shop says, “I like making the lollipops because I enjoy the challenge to work at a fast pace.”
Diane Resciniti first started the lollipop shop with her students. “I originally started it when I taught at Jonas Salk 25 years ago,” she said. “I came up with the idea when I observed a teacher while I was a junior in college, and she was doing a similar shop on a smaller level.”
The profits from the lollipop shop go towards an end of the year trip for the job coaching students as well as a Lollipop Shop scholarship for two to three graduating seniors. This link can be used to place orders of any size in advance.
Posted on 5/3/22
Photos by Blaire Reklaitis
Knight Life 