Young entrepreneurs graduate from Lemonade Day University

By MIKE BARTOSZEK

Cove Leader-Press

The business of turning lemons into lemonade has never been sweeter for dozens of students attending the Lemonade Day University at Central Texas College on Saturday.

Lemonade Day University, a short, one-day entrepreneurship education event helped nearly 75 kids connect with their inner businessman through classes and hands-on practical education.

“Lemonade Day University is a full day, set up to teach young students to be entrepreneurs through curriculum and hands-on practical education” Said Chastity Clemons, a Central Texas College Business Profession and event sponsor. “We started the day off with Dwayne Shaw, our 11-year-old keynote speaker. Last year he won Lemonade Day Entrepreneur of the Year from the National Lemonade Day organization and we thought he would make a great speaker to motivate this new set of students.”

Shaw, who started selling lemonade from his homemade stand in his neighborhood, quickly built a following expanding his brand, Lemon Squeezos, from selling one cup at a time to bottling freshly squeezed juice.

“My dad enrolled me in the Lemonade Day University after seeing a billboard,” Shaw said. “After that we started selling our lemonade not only on Lemonade Day, but also around the neighborhood and then at the Harker Heights park. From there I gained a growing amount of supporters, and entered Lemonade Day again and won the Lemonade Day Entrepreneur of the Year award.”

After the inspiring speech, Lemonade Day University students were divided into age groups, 6 to 16 and led to their classrooms where they began learning the details of budgeting, purchasing, saving and marketing.

“We have some of our CTC students teaching lessons on how to save money, earn money, spend money and give money,” said Clemons. “Once they’re done learning their curriculum they’ll move into practicum education where they’ll learn how to make their own aprons, squeeze their own lemons, build a lemonade stand from a single wooden pallet, and even create their own logos with our Graphic Design instructor Bobbi Waddle.”

In spite of his recent national award, Shaw, the young entrepreneur, said that he was honored to speak at the event.

“It was a pretty good opportunity for me to speak to all of the other kids here and share with them what I’ve learned,” he said. “This is my first year at Lemonade Day University and it’s going pretty amazing. Right now I’m learning how to brand and budget for my business which I hope will help it grow.”

Lemonade Day University was started nearly 15 years ago as the Fort Hood Area Lemonade Day and has seen its share of growth and change.

“In the early days of the event, we would have all of the classes broken up into two or three days, sometimes on a Tuesday from 4 to 6, which was during dinner time, and we wouldn’t have very many kids come out,” said Clemons. “And then Covid happened, and it shut everything down forcing us to take a small break and rethink.”

As COVID came to an end Clemons and the Lemonade Day board and sponsors changed the event from a mildly attended multi-afternoon event, to a single weekend day, immersive college experience.

“We decided since it was a university, why not host it here at Central Texas College?” Clemons said, adding that they utilized the CTC business and entrepreneurial students giving them the opportunity to share their knowledge and be the instructors, helping to give the kids an immersive full day of college experience.

To learn more about upcoming Lemonade Day events visit www.lemonadeday.org/fort-cavazos-area.