NSU starts ice cream entrepreneur program
For one week of their summer vacations, 25 high school students went back to school. Their main subject: ice cream.
Nova Southeastern University in Davie hosted its first Ice Cream Entrepreneur Program. The weeklong course was put on by the school’s Writing and Communication department and was free.
It was the brainchild of Assistant Professor Stephen Andon. “Our department is all about creative spirit, creating products, marketing, that kind of entrepreneurial spirit that I think is foundational for students in whatever career they want to go into,” he said. “We wanted to start to give them opportunities where you mix theoretical things and actually make something.”
Students from public and private schools throughout Broward County attended and were split into groups. From there, they worked with NSU professors and learned about advertising, business, branding, public relations and more.
The university partnered with Yo Mama’s Ice Cream Shop, where the groups created their own ice cream flavor. On the last day of the program, groups presented a final presentation where they pitched why their ice cream should join the Yo Mama’s lineup for one month.
“I thought the experience with Nova was incredible,” Yo Mama’s Ice Cream owner Lee Feldman said. “I loved working with the students to create amazing flavors.”
The five teams pulled out all the stops during their presentations — like team Cocoa Doughlight with its ukulele jingle and team Chew-Bacca’s Star Wars-themed flavor, complete with a marketing plan that included costume contests and movie screenings.
But the win went to Mariana Valoejo, Caroline Dejtiar, Shayna Cohen and Hannah Cohen with their Beach Blond flavor. Valoejo is an incoming junior at Olympic Heights High School while Dejtiar and the Cohens are incoming seniors at Cooper City High School.
“We think that we were very professional and opposed to the other teams, we treated it as a business opportunity for ourselves,” Dejtiar said after the group won.
All of the young women want to major in business and marketing fields when they go to college, and ironically, none of them is blonde.
“We liked it because it made it seem like it wasn’t a stereotype,” Dejtiar explained. “Because none of us are blonde it shows that the ice cream is, not the girl eating it.”
The team pitched its blondie confection inspired flavor to the judges, setting the scene with inflatable beach balls, buckets and shovels on the ground.
“I liked the combination of flavors they put together with the cookie doughs and brownies,” Feldman said of the flavor. “I think it’ll be an excellent fit at my shop.”
He was one of the judges, along with five members of the school’s Department of Writing and Communications and the director of undergraduate admissions. They scored the teams on categories including delivery, organization and structure, creativity of images, creativity of social media and promotion tactics and flavor taste.
Beach Blond will be available at Yo Mama’s Ice Cream shop for one month. And as for the Ice Cream Entrepreneur Program, Andon said it’ll happen again next summer.
“I’m so proud of these students. They went above and beyond what I could’ve expected,” he said. “We had an amazing roster of talent. It was just about guiding their interests and channeling it into certain directions. I’m super proud and happy.”