Everyone likes cookies! So students and staff alike at Harding High School should be happy to know that The Cookie Jar, a student-run cookie-selling business, will be making its return to Harding’s Friday lunch periods.
Run by Mr. Steve Clark’s Special Ed class, The Cookie Jar bakes and sells several varieties of cookies, including chocolate chip, carnival (chocolate chips and M&Ms), chocolate chip and Reese's pieces, sugar cookies, and oatmeal raisin. They will be stationed outside the cafeteria during each lunch period, selling bags of three cookies, for $2 per bag.
The Cookie Jar has been with Harding for over 20 years, Clark says. He started the business to ready his students for real-world jobs, giving them a better understanding of money values and a chance to practice business skills before entering the workforce. Before The Cookie Jar, Clark also noticed that many of his students had trouble standing for long periods of time. “…Everybody seemed to like to cook and help…and by the time we got done, people were standing for most of the period and didn’t even realize it!” Clark says.
The Cookie Jar was a huge success among Harding students, and for many years, business was booming.
During Barack Obama’s presidency, Mrs. Obama raised school food nutrition standards, leading to restrictions on the food that could be sold at schools. This heavily impacted The Cookie Jar by making them unable to use the flavorful cookie dough they had been, and customers began to dwindle. Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the business vanished altogether.
Recently, Ms. Musbach asked Clark if there was any chance of reviving The Cookie Jar, and he and his students were more than happy to oblige. This time, there will be no restrictions on the type of cookie dough they can use, so The Cookie Jar will return to the original Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough that was so loved before.
The students of Mr. Clark’s class are very excited to restart the business, and for good reason! The Friday before spring break was their first day selling cookies, and by 10th period lunch there was barely any inventory left. Be sure to stop outside the cafeteria during lunch, before The Cookie Jar sells out!