Houston Youth Turn Lemonade Day Into Life Lesson

The members of the freshman class at Young Women's College Preparatory Academy knew they had to shine against the competition, which included three others stands run by students from their own Houston ISD school. [...] their real secret weapon? A margarita machine that they used to make frozen strawberry lemonade (non-alcoholic, of course). The money they raised would go to help a classmate diagnosed with diabetes, to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and for an end-of-the-year party at school. Who came up with the idea of personalized business cards?"Me!" she giggled. Jayla, in her second year as a Lemonade Day participant, had other touches designed to set her stand apart, including colorful plastic bracelets to adorn the cups and specially named flavors such as Blue Sensation, Pinkalicious and Ol' Fresh Lemonade. The fourth-grader and his partner, his 4-year-old brother Austin, also sold brownies and frozen grapes on a stick. Tony, who wants to own a bakery some day and loves making cakes and desserts, spent hours preparing the goodies with his mother. The limeade is my secret recipe, said Tony, glowing with pride. Twenty percent of her earnings will go to fight breast cancer; the rest is earmarked for an American Girl doll bed. The front of the stand run by the 6th-grade girls from Young Women's College Preparatory Academy was plastered with inspirational sayings, such as "Keep calm and study hard," "If you change nothing, nothing will change," and "Every day may not be good, but there's good in every day." The sayings, and the stand's optimistic name of "Sunshine in a Cup," were part of a well-thought-out marketing strategy, an effort to create a magnetic persona that would draw customers, explained Aaniyah Alexander, 12. Later, the Sunshine team, which raised money for March of Dimes, rattled off adjectives to describe how their Lemonade Day accomplishments made them feel: