Cookie Sales Driving Prep Students to Washington, D.C.
Close-Up Washington Trip fueled by selling Daisy cookies … check out the PHOTOS from last year’s trip!
A student sells cookies in the cafeteria to raise money for the Student Council’s field trip to Washington, D.C.
Can cookies drive you to Washington, D.C.?!?!
Passaic Preparatory Academy teacher Mr. Figueroa is having the Student Council sell cookies to raise money for a field trip. The Student Council started selling cookies and other things, like candygrams, and they are also planning other fundraisers to get more than enough money to get the top 14 students in the council to go on the Close-Up Washington Trip, a week-long experience in Washington, D.C.
The Close-Up Washington Trip is about giving students a hands-on experience with politicians, according to Mr. Figueroa. One thing the teacher believes is that if politicians meet the students of Passaic, then later in life the politicians might be able to assist politically-minded students in scholarship endowments.
“We have to raise a lot of money to take 14 students on the Close-Up Washington Trip,” Mr. Figueroa said. “Students will also gain real-life experiences working in a government setting while having the opportunity to work for the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of government.”
Students will also get the opportunity to visit the top sites in and around D.C. and get a flair for the district’s culture. In order for students to be selected for this trip, they will have to work hard academically and help out in the school and community.
Mr. Figueroa has set up a point system that determines who gets to go on the trip.
“I think it is really important for students to learn the value of hard work and not expect teachers to simply choose them for the trip because they are in my class or club,” Mr. Figueroa said. “This is why I have set up a point system. The hardest workers get to go on the trip. There are a lot of students in the school who sit back and expect to go on field trips, but don’t want to work for the experience.”
The initial money invested came from Mr. Figueroa, who paid for the first batch of cookies. For the rest of the school year, the profits from the sale of the cookies were used to buy more cookies. This earned the Student Council additional profits.
Sometimes, students get frustrated or bored of just selling cookies and want to sell other products.
“Students come up to me all the time and say they want to sell something different or they are bored of cookies, but they sell out of cookies all the time!” Mr. Figueroa said. “Students may be bored of selling the cookies, but on the other side students aren’t bored of buying and eating them. I encourage students to overcome objections, and those students in Student Council who object to selling cookies can learn a valuable lesson.”
Overcoming an objection is a life skill that students will need for any sales job and other occupations, he said.
The Daisy cookies are priced at $2 each with 560 calories each. Some people might argue that it is too many calories for cookies sold to students.
“Yes, I do believe that there are a lot of calories in that cookie, but what I have seen is that many students share the cookie,” Mr. Figueroa said, “which, of course, is better off for the students.”
Student Council member Bryan Perez, a freshman, has been selling cookies since the beginning of the school year, and he believes that the work he’s putting in is worth it.
“The cookies are working out really well for us,” Bryan said. “We are selling out in the time we are supposed to. It has helped us out a lot for our Student Council field trip to Washington in June. Not only is the council fundraising, but also there are kids who don’t eat the school lunch and the cookie could be a snack for them.”
UPDATE: The field trip to Washington, as well as all other field trips, were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
