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Home > Archive > Feb 21, 2008

PVMS Takes on Project Tootsie Pop
By Cami Cox
Staff Writer
What do 4,000 Tootsie Pops, some local ninth-graders and a school of Nepalese students have in common?
What they have in common is a happy ending for several new students at the Khumjung School in Nepal – children who formerly couldn't afford an education.
Jayne Stringfellow, a teacher at Pine View Middle School, visited Nepal last year to mountain climb with some teacher friends. She thought visiting the Mount Everest Base Camp would be the highlight of her trip, but it was the faces of young school children and the friendliness of the Sherpa people that ended up being the high point of her journey.
While there, she learned of the great need of children in that region of Nepal. It costs about 200 American dollars to educate a child there for one year, she said, and the poverty in the area makes it impossible for many children to go to school.
“I was trying to figure out a way to raise money to send these kids through school because they can't go to school unless somebody is paying for it. So I decided I had to figure out a way to do a fundraiser here at my school,” Stringfellow said.
Last fall, months after her trip to Nepal, Stringfellow was shopping and saw a display of Tootsie Pops on clearance. Inspiration struck her regarding how she could involve her students in helping the Nepalese children.
“I found the Tootsie Pops on sale at Wal-Mart – a Halloween clearance – and was able to buy 4,000 Tootsie Pops for 80 bucks, and we turned 80 bucks into 1,000.”
Project Tootsie Pop was born
“No one thought of it as an assignment, even though it was an assignment,” Brianna Rosia, 15, said. “Everyone just thought it was a really fun project.”
Brianna, a Pine View Middle School student, was among the art students in Stringfellow's classes who helped launch phase one of Project Tootsie Pop, selling suckers and raising money to send five Nepalese kids to school.
Setting out in their school and in their neighborhoods, Brianna and her peers began selling the Tootsie Pops at 25 cents each. Within two weeks, all 4,000 suckers were sold, and the students had earned $1,000 to help their Nepalese counterparts.
“It was exciting. It was fun being able to help other kids that wouldn't otherwise be able to go to school,” Haley Anderson, 15, another of Stringfellow's students said.
While working diligently to sell their pops, the Pine View students got creative with a few marketing gimmicks. They created pro-pop posters to advertise their wares around campus, and they even turned Tootsie bags into wearable Tootsie apparel. One student got busy with her sewing machine, creating Tootsie pants, dresses and even flip-flops!
“It got very competitive,” Brianna said, “but it was a fun competitive.”
While their selling efforts were going on, the PVMS students documented Project Tootsie Pop with Stringfellow's video camera. At the conclusion of the project, Stringfellow decided to send the video to Ellen Gordon, CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries, with a letter explaining the project. Not thinking much of it, Stringfellow was shocked when, some time later, a message was brought to her classroom that an Ellen Gordon had called for her.
“I don't think I've ever been so excited in my whole life as when I got that phone call,” Stringfellow said.
“They absolutely loved (the video),” she went on to say, “and they passed it around the whole company. I didn't even put a phone number or anything – she found the phone number and called, and I talked to her for about 20 minutes. She wanted to know everything about the kids; she said they were the most charming kids she'd ever seen. She was very complimentary. She was very impressed that they did this – not for themselves, but to help others.”
Gordon told Stringfellow that she'd like to post the students' video on the Tootsie Web site, so the whole world could see their project. She also wanted to send the students 4,000 more Tootsie Pops, courtesy of Tootsie Roll Industries, to help them launch the next phase of their campaign.
“It was way cool. We were way excited,” Brianna said.
Gordon also sent the students rolls of uncut Tootsie Roll bags and wrappers to boost their creative efforts and inspire more Tootsie-themed outfits and crafts.
For phase two of Project Tootsie Pop, called “Tootsie Times 10,” the PVMS students will soon set out, once again, to sell suckers. They are also creating giant, Tootsie-theme art pieces that are 10 times larger than the treats they're patterned after.
As art-class assignments, the students have been creating giant, papier-mâché Tootsie Pops, large wooden boxes that look like Junior Mints and Dots packages, and other creative Tootsie items. This artwork will be used to promote the sucker sales, Stringfellow said, and the students are planning to sell the items as an additional fundraiser to buy supplies for the Khumjung School. The students additionally plan to use the wrappers and packaging material to create bracelets and other items to sell.
Brianna and Haley have been named the CEOs for phase two of Project Tootsie Pop, and they and their classmates have formed a little mini-corporation within the walls of Pine View Middle. There are fashion designers, package designers, film directors and salespeople within the little student company.
In addition to helping the Nepalese kids, Brianna and Haley said they've learned not to take their educations for granted. They're also learning valuable business skills.
“I would hire them in a second if I were an employer,” Stringfellow said.
Pemba Sherpa, a friend of Stringfellow's from Nepal, visited the Pine View students earlier this month. Inspired by their efforts, he is forming his own foundation to further help the schoolchildren in his hometown. Stringfellow and her pupils will collaborate with him to help further fill the needs at the Khumjung School.
And how long will the students' Tootsie efforts go on?
“There won't be an end to this,” Brianna said.
“We hope!” Haley added.
Stringfellow's classes will display some of their Project Tootsie Pop efforts at the St. George Art Festival (March 21-22 in St. George's Town Square. For more information about Project Tootsie Pop or to help support the effort, contact Jayne Stringfellow at Pine View Middle School, 628-7915.

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