Hershey Students Taking Products to Market
Tenth and eleventh year Hershey Montessori School students are nearing the end of their Food Systems Project, a project that combines content and skills from the student’s Humanities, Integrated Science, and Business courses.
Hershey 10th and 11th year students each chose a food item to produce and sell at local markets. In support of quality production, students learned foundational food chemistry concepts and used scientific methods in order to improve their product. They also investigated historical, cultural, or social justice aspects of their product to strengthen their branding and story-telling. Students then calculated the price of production and break-event points in order to take a loan from Hershey’s Microeconomy – a hallmark component of Hershey’s Adolescent Community modeled after Dr. Montessori’s vision for adolescents to participate in, and manage, small business endeavors in order to experience economic activity as an introduction to real economic life.
Students also presented their products at a “Shark Tank” event with guest expert judges. Each student’s project survived, allowing them to move on and finish readying their product for market.
The Food Systems Project students are now nearing the final stage of their endeavor as they complete the final tasks of website creation, food production, and packaging. They will take their finished products to local markets, making them available for sale to the public.
A list of student products is as follows:
- Hot Chocolate Mix
- Easy Aussie Damper Mix
- Cornbread Mix
- Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Bagels
- Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Homemade White Bread (great for those picky eaters!)
- Maple Cotton Candy
- Fresh-made Shade-grown Coffee Beverages
- Homemade Fresh Soda-Pop
- Marinara Sauce
- Fermented Pickles
- Smokin’ Mitch’s BBQ Sauce and Meal Plates
- Conscious Chocolate Bars
Each off-campus market will have two to four students present, representing their items and Hershey Montessori School. However, all local, participating students will be present for Hershey’s larger Huntsburg Campus market.
Currently scheduled markets and dates are listed below.
May 22nd
8:00 – 12:00 pm
June 2nd
2:30 – 4:30 pm