In the 15 minutes between 8A and 8B, students crowd the Audlob in a hurried line, rushing to buy a long-awaited snack. They clamor for pies, cookies and brownies, hungry after a long day of classes. Meanwhile, behind the concessions stand, club members race to distribute the food to the growing line.
Every week, whether on Facebook, Instagram or TJ Intranet (Ion), Jefferson students are greeted with a new post to support a club through a bake sale. Clubs often promote buying snacks to fund their club, although, most of the time, customers do not know where profits specifically go.
Congressional Debate and Speech hosted a bake sale in the Audlob concessions stand on March 1, featuring a one for $2 and two for $3 deal.
“We got people in the club to [buy food], go to grocery stores and buy things like chocolate cupcakes. People even made homemade stuff, like brownies,” junior Anirudh Chintaluri said.
After the bake sale, the club can use the profits for many things, which funded tournaments for Congressional debate and Speech.
“We raised $223. We use that money towards funding for tournaments, like travel competitions. There [are] competitions at Yale or Harvard, so in case a person can’t afford to pay the costs required, we use those funds,” Chintaluri said.
Technology Student Association (TSA) sold pizza instead of baked goods on Feb. 21. Priced at $3 per slice and $5 per two slices, the pizza was bought and then sold to students near the end of the day, taking advantage of hunger that is also demonstrated with after-school Chick-Fil-A.
“In previous years, we sold Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, but we know that a lot of other clubs also sell sweet things like cookies [and] brownies. We wanted to do something a little different,” sophomore Aashritha Penumudi said.
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TSA made an estimated $150 of profit through this bake sale, which went towards funding for the club.
“We initially wanted to buy just 10 or so pizzas, but then we did a recount. We thought about other big bake sales that we’ve done in the past, and we increased it to 13 or so pizzas. We sold out really fast,” Penumudi said.
Bake sales can help a club raise funds for the club’s needs, but it can also help make an impact on the community.
“We’re planning to donate to the Canopy Project, which plants one tree for every dollar donated,” senior Angelina Richter said.
However, students might feel that bake sales could be improved in some ways that could even lead to more profit for the clubs.
“I don’t like how they don’t have Apple Pay because I don’t bring cash. It’s annoying because I want to buy stuff all the time,” freshman Nathalie Hatchuel said.
A lot of baking, planning, strategy and work goes into these bake sales. Supporting clubs by buying from their bake sale during eighth periods is something unique to the Jefferson experience.
“It’s great to simulate a business-type [exchange]. Running a bake sale is a really good experience because you have to [learn how to] organize things and get public word out,” sophomore Rebecca Cheng said. “The bake sales are great for buyers as well because it makes people happy. People are really tired and hungry at the end of the day, and they need something to energize themselves, so they go to the bake sales.”