Lemonade Day inspires kids to be entrepreneurs

Jamie Forzato, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Some D.C. students spent their Sunday working, but they were still having fun while do so.

Sunday was D.C.’s first-ever Lemonade Day, part of a nationwide effort to help teach children about running a business and to inspire young people to become entrepreneurs. Kids as young as 3 and as old as 18 set up stands across the District.

12-year old Johnathon Clarke is one of a thousand students in the District out running a stand, along with the help of a mentor.

“We just want to get these kids involved with learning how to sell lemonade in the right way,” said George Washington University basketball player Jonathan Davis, one of the mentors. “We’re trying to get them to learn about all the different options that goes with creating a business. You’re going to need those types of skills. It’s just great to have them at such a young age. I wish I would have had them.”

The free program teaches kids to use their profits wisely. Clarke says their motto is: “you may save some, you may give some, and you may keep some for yourself.”

Lemonade Day was started in Houston, Texas in 2007. Organizers say it has grown from 2,700 kids in one city to 150,000 kids across America and Canada.

D.C.’s Lemonade Day was sponsored by George Washington University’s School of Business (GWSB), Gallup, PNC Bank, Arthur & Judith Mintz, and the office of Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie.

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