By Superintendent Dr. David Leach,
Warwick Valley Central School District
Warwick Valley Middle School students Madison Buliung and Conner Price have been close friends for a while now, but lately they’ve been making a name for themselves as business partners.
In a bit of kismet, Madison recently decided to share her idea for a small business with Conner, only to find out that he had been independently thinking about starting a small business. They had both also envisioned a charity element. The entrepreneurial flame was lit!
“We grouped together and decided that we wanted to sell scented candles,” said Madison.
“The first thing we did when we decided on candles, is we made a slideshow for our parents to get them to, like, hop on board,” said Conner about the investor presentation he and Madison put together.
The plan that the students laid out was to sell a new scented candle each month, with proceeds going to a different charity, which will also change monthly. The four-ounce Strawberry Lemonade scented soy candles for February will be Valentine’s themed and proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association.
Their entire candle empire is run from a set of notes in Google, which Madison and Conner evolved into Google Form and detailed spreadsheet for tracking orders and making deliveries. The candles come with personal home delivery to a Warwick or Chester address.
“We’re trying to expand our delivery area because we have a lot of people who have been wanting to buy some,” said Conner.
Madison and Conner give plenty of credit to their middle school curriculum for preparing them for this moment. Madison says a lot of it stems from her love of math, while Conner cites the lessons of Home and Careers.
“I’d say that those classes have definitely taught us about financial literacy and helped us with the money-handling part of this,” said Madison.
Both are also hugely involved in the music department. Besides being vocalists in the chorus, Madison plays bass and Conner plays viola in the orchestra. And, both have achieved All-County status!
Madison and Conner are looking forward to continuing the candle work they started, and say they are researching more charities to which they can donate. The two have tentatively chosen the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide for their next donation, in light of the mental and emotional stresses the pandemic has caused for so many.
Each week, Warwick Valley Central School District Superintendent Dr. David Leach shines the “Superintendent’s Spotlight” on one of Warwick Valley’s amazing students. “Superintendent’s Spotlight” features students who reach goals, face challenges, and are role models to their peers.
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