Lemonade To Leadership Success!

We just received this AMAZING and INSPIRING email from Tracy who shared her successes using Lemonade To Leadership in her school. Read on! I'm sure you too will want to have your students start a metaphorical Lemonade Stand of their own!

My name is Tracy and I am the instructor/young entrepreneur coach at Circle Christian School in Orlando, FL. I have been using the Lemonade To Leadership (L2L) curriculum for the past two years and have had incredible success.

As an entrepreneur, I was blessed to have parents who understood and encouraged the world of entrepreneurship in our home and allowed me to have my own businesses at a young age. Today, it has been hard to find programs in the schools and communities that encourage “thinking out of the box." There are young people whom God has wired with a sense of “what if?” and “why not?” and see ways to make money in the littlest things. Unfortunately, by the time these young people get into high school, if they are not encouraged, they begin to believe the comment “that would never work” and give up dreaming.






I was ecstatic when the our CCS K-8 Program Director, Carla Calvert, showed me the Lemonade to Leadership (L2L) curriculum she found on the IEW website. Now each spring, I conduct an 18 week Boot Camp for 4th-7th graders to teach the program. They are instructed on the basic concepts of business, verbal and nonverbal communication, and product development. At graduation, we create a market place for the students to show off their businesses to family and friends. They build a table top exhibit which includes all the visual features that were discussed, provide marketing materials (business cards, packaging, and brochures), discuss their business plan, and sell their product(s). Each student also must give a 30-60 second pitch for their business, which gives them a chance to practice public speaking.








Once the students have completed the Boot Camp they then have the opportunity to continue with the group of L2L alumni, which meets once a month, to build their business or launch another endeavor, hear from local entrepreneurs, and participate in other market place events. Last Christmas we were able to do a Christmas Market at the school. As a group, we spent hours hand making ornaments and crafts for gifts that would be sold between $0.50-$2.00. This taught the students how to work hard and create products that had a 50% profit margin. In addition the students could purchase table space ($10.00) and sell their own business items. We made around $2,000.00, with the money going to the club’s future endeavors and the mission work of Opportunity International.

I have been blown away by each of the student’s success, not just financially but most important personally. Some students had a transformation from pessimist to optimist as well as synergizing with students who think like they do. After completing the L2L program, they are equipped to take their ideas, think outside the box, and run with it. In this economy where they say there is no money, these kids are finding it. The L2L program is changing lives and grooming our next generation of entrepreneurs.


-Tracy from FL