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CREAM OF THE CROP
Student churns ice cream business into college savings.
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY BARBARA TWITCHELL
The steady drone of a motor drifts through the halls at Smith Valley School and, almost immediately, the students begin to salivate. They know that when Kellie Rogaczewski’s ice-cream maker is humming, good things will be coming their way soon.
Will it be sweet honey ice cream, made with the natural, raw honey from the on-site bee hives? Perhaps luscious blackberry from the freshly picked produce of the school’s own little farm? Or maybe any one of a dozen equally delectable flavors Rogaczewski is known to have churned out?
Business education
Like many students at the school, Rogaczewski is a budding entrepreneur, thanks to her involvement in Future Farmers of America. In her case, making and selling ice cream is her business — one of the most popular and profitable on campus. The aforementioned honey and blackberries that she purchases for her ice cream also happen to be the products of fellow classmates with their own enterprises.
Learning how to run a business is an important part of the FFA program in Smith Valley, according to Andy Miller, agriculture teacher and FFA adviser. The students at the small rural school love his entrepreneurial approach.
“It’s pretty cool because we learn a lot while making money for ourselves,” Rogaczewski says. “It’s very motivating.”
Rogaczewski, a senior in the fall, started her ice-cream business at the beginning of her junior year. The FFA program gave her the startup money for supplies, equipment, and ingredients. She now splits the profits, keeping 60 percent for herself — most of which goes into her college fund — and giving 40 percent back to the program to support FFA activities and future student business ventures.
Supply and demand
Churning out 18 quarts per week throughout the school year, Rogaczewski sells her ice cream to her fellow students at lunchtime and at home football games. Her classmates gobble it up, literally. She could probably sell just about as much as she is willing to make, according to Miller.
Happy that her business is thriving, Rogaczewski plans to continue selling her frozen treats throughout her senior year. Regarding any expansion, the busy 17-year-old, straight-A honor student and standout multi-sport athlete prefers to keep it small and manageable.
The one exception occurred this past April, when she got her biggest order to date. Rogaczewski was asked to provide enough of her ice cream to feed 250 Nevada legislators and their staff members at the state capitol for Legislative Ag Day — quite an honor for a fledgling entrepreneur. After all, how many ice-cream makers can boast that they served their product to the entire state legislature?
Reno-based writer Barbara Twitchell says she feels like a slacker after meeting this amazing young woman whose schedule of Advanced Placement classes, athletic practices, and ice-cream making/selling is daunting, exhausting, and absolutely inspirational!
