LSC-Montgomery youth campers learn about business through lemonade stand

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- When your youth camp hands you lemons, you make lemonade. At least, that was the assignment for a group of seven to 10 year olds who were a part of the Lone Star College - Montgomery "Lemonade Stand" Discovery Youth Camp this week.

The group of children, under the direction of Michael Robinson, or "Mr. Mike" to them, had only four days to come up with the business, math, and advertising side of running a lemonade stand.

Swarms of other campers and members of the community filled The Commons at LSC-Montgomery June 21 to take part in the execution of their hard week of work.

Before setting foot in The Commons, lemonade tasters were greeted by a team of campers holding signs they designed. Another team of campers waited next, ready with trays serving a frozen rendition of their final product.

Dr. Austin Lane, LSC-Montgomery president, sampled the pink and yellow lemonades placed on a table towards the back of the room. He smiled and took pictures with the campers, letting them know he would recommend their lemonade to everyone he knew.

The campers were responsible for research and development, all the math, advertising and execution of their final product, "Lonestar Lemonade." They designed T-shirts, posters, came up with the set-up for the event, and while walking around talking to the campers about their experience, they used words like "merger" and "acquisition" and "perseverance."

"There's no "I" in team," Damilola Fakoya, camper, said of the experience this past week.

Mr. Mike, a former U.S. Marine, had a smile on his face the entire time, even despite a small lemonade spill during the event.

Donna Smith Burns, program coordinator for LSC-Montgomery Continuing Education, said the college had only planned to host one session of the "Lemonade Stand" camp, but it became so popular this past week they are thinking of adding more sessions.

For Mr. Mike and his group of motivated, determined campers, today ended on a note of success, as their "Lonestar Lemonade" quickly sold out and left every customer happy.