HSSC Popsicle Fundraiser

One day, when the executives of the High School Student Council (HSSC) were having a meeting, we thought about ways to raise money while providing students with joy. One of the events I came up with is selling popsicles. In the beginning we decided to purchase premade popsicles outside and sell them to students for a higher price; however, that doesn’t engage ourselves very much. After a long discussion, we thought about the idea of making fruit popsicles ourselves (Steven has an experience of making these). The reasons being fruit popsicles are healthy, delicious, and a coolant for the hot summer day. Most impor

tantly, the student council get to collaborate together on the first HSSC activity. This event not only benefits the students, financially the HSSC, but also an opportunity to work as a group. This is how the idea of selling popsicles originated.

The process from the discussion about popsicles to the day of the fundraiser was quite a long (perseverance and commitment). This activity was planned in June and we wanted it to happen in August (the week when students return from summer vacation). Also, we had two trial sessions testing different fruits and models to prepare for the final sale. Since this is the first Student Council activity we have hosted, there were difficulties due to inexperience. For example, we didn’t think of creating a well-rounded plan that includes the cost of everything and estimate possible profits. Thus, we had to create one eventually to make sure we can earn money.

Another difficulty I met during the process of making popsicles is teamwork. Some time along the way, everyone had different ideas about the amount of popsicles we should sell, the kind of fruits we should sell, and the price we should sell. I thought it should be 10rmb each so we can gain actual profit, and some other members thought we should make it 5rmb to attract more students. This conflict was very interesting because we’re dealing with quick profit versus customer satisfaction, which relates to what I am learning in business class. Different businesses have different aims, and our aim was to fundraise. Hence, we came to a consensus on making the popsicles 10rmb just so that we have enough money for future expenditure such as the Halloween event.

Although the entire process was long and sometimes tiring, we didn’t give up in the end. There are a lot of valuable experiences learnt along the way such as planning financially and coming to a consensus as a group (developing new skills). In addition, there is room for improvement such as advertisements and marketing. In general, I had fun along the process of the popsicle event and we raised a total of around 700rmb in total!