Jamie Batten
REALTOR®
Read my blog below
New College Station High School
August 1st, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
This fall, the new College Station High School opens its doors to freshmen and sophomores. The expected number of freshmen and sophomore students at the new high school is between 650 and 725. This will make it the size of an average 3A high school. A grade will be added to the school each year until August 2014 when it will incorporate all four high school grades. The first graduating class from the new school will be the students who start this year as sophomores, the graduating class of 2015.
The high school will offer junior and senior level courses for the freshmen and sophomore students who are interested and qualified to take upper level courses. Advanced students needing certain courses will have those courses offered to them. For example, if a freshman or sophomore needs to take Spanish 4 or 5, the course will be available. In order for elective courses to be offered, a minimum student enrollment must be met, as is the case at A&M Consolidated High School. College Station High School will also offer Pre AP, Honors and AP courses to its students.
In addition to making as many courses as possible available to its students, College Station High School has set a high standard for its staff. Arrangements have been made to ensure that the new high school teachers and staff are equally matched with those at A&M Consolidated High School. Because Read the rest of this entry »
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?Aggie Athletes Represent Texas A&M University in the 2012 London Olympics
August 1st, 2012 Categories: Texas A&M University
There has been plenty of excitement over the recent launch of the 2012 London Olympics. Over one billion people worldwide tuned in to watch the opening ceremonies in London on Friday, July 27th and even more are eager to watch the famous match ups of various athletes in the diverse Olympic competitions. However, there is a secondary enthusiasm for the start of these games in College Station, Texas. Thanks to the outstanding athletic programs at Texas A&M University, 23 Aggie athletes will be competing in various sports with several associated personal appearing in coaching positions, reporting, as well as to simply show support for the students representing such a great institution.
The twenty-three Aggie athletes that will be appearing in the London Olympics will be representing fourteen different nations. Among the list are Canada, Australia, Mexico, Jamaica, and the Bahamas: along with Estonia, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, Tonga, the US Virgin Islands, Lithuania, Croatia, and Zambia.
Fifteen of the twenty-three Aggies are women, outnumbering their Aggie male Olympians by almost twice as many. This reflects a national trend, as this is the first Olympics ever that the number of female Olympic athletes have outnumbered the population of the male athletes. However, Texas A&M’s proportion most likely has more to do with A&M’s outstanding women’s swimming and diving Read the rest of this entry »
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New Texas Regulations will affect Homeowners Associations
June 19th, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
Homeowners Associations (HOAs) in the Brazos Valley are neighborhoods that have set certain rules, fees and conditions for homeowners. The lack of a regulation policy is primarily due to the independence of the Homeowners Association from the state of Texas. Unlike Florida or California, Texas law has very little regulation regarding Homeowners Associations throughout the state. This is changing, however, thanks to recent bills that were passed through the Texas Legislature meant to monitor the implementation of HOAs.
It is always possible as a Texan homeowner to live in a neighborhood that was not developed under the conditions of an HOA, or perhaps outside of residential living all together. Today, however, over 4.5 million Texans live in residential areas that are affected by or under the influence of Homeowners Associations. That is almost 20% of all Texan properties have been under the power of generally unregulated entities until this point. The recently passed bills through Texas Legislature have changed how HOAs will be governed, including their powers over particular penalties and foreclosures, and provide additional rights to homeowners concerning the use of their property.
Homeowners Associations are set up by real estate developers as a means to market, manage and sell homes in a residential area. They are often viewed positively for their ability to provide neighbors with shared values and Read the rest of this entry »
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Preparing YOUR Home for Sale in Bryan College Station, Texas
June 18th, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
Summer fever has hit Bryan College Station! Families are preparing lists of what needs to be done for vacations and summer school, and moving season is upon us. The sunny, warm weather that Texas has to offer brings in buyers from all over and the sun that shines through home windows provides an extra homey feel that winter lacks. If you are interested in selling your home in the next couple of months, there are a variety of things that you can do to make your home even more appealing to buyers.
Buyers are eager to find a house that fits their budget and requirements over the summer, due to the holiday break that it provides and children being between school years. Often, all that a potential buyer needs is a small push to go ahead and make the purchase.
Sprucing up your home by doing a bit of summer cleaning will make it irresistible to your potential buyer. A few quick tips will take off the grime that tends to coat the majority of houses as a result of their daily use. Taking a couple of extra minutes to go beyond traditional cleaning and make your home smell pleasant will add a distinctive attraction.
Even if cleaning and organization is not your strong point, it is not difficult to follow a few easy steps to set your home in order. One thing that you can do is create your own customized checklist. Walk through each room of your house with a notepad and write down any grimy areas of the room you are in or anything that needs fixing.
Here are several ideas that could be included Read the rest of this entry »
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The Spark of Rivalry: Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Vs LSU Tigers
June 8th, 2012 Categories: Texas A&M University
In January, 2011, Texas A&M faced down the LSU Tigers in the 75th Cotton Bowl Classic. This date sparked an incessant competition between two nationally recognized universities, and likely served as a primary influence for Texas A&M’s decision to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
On June 7th, 2012, Former Coach Jackie Sherrill came forward and announced that Texas A&M and LSU could become a featured Thanksgiving football game. This event would only further in solidifying the recently developed competitive enmity, perhaps eventually filling the hole left by the Texas A&M/Texas rivalry. It would also serve as an opportunity for A&M to assimilate smoothly into the SEC, establishing themselves as a serious competitor within the division capable of bringing in revenue and publicity.
Football within the SEC, while the primary reason for Texas A&M’s transference to the SEC, is hardly the only aspect of comparison between universities and rarely serves as a measure of a University’s repute. So, in the spirit of a potential rivalry, an assessment of Texas A&M and LSU’s university backgrounds is in order.
The history of the University of Texas A&M is most likely familiar with any and all university Read the rest of this entry »
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Home Construction and Copper Theft in Bryan College Station
June 7th, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
If you’re building a home in the Bryan/College Station area, or anywhere in the United States for that matter, there are most likely an innumerable number of concerns providing stress for the said production. And though you might have thought up every last possible gimmick and fluke that could hinder the progress of your future home’s production, there’s at least one recent development which you have likely overlooked: copper theft.
That is correct. You might have thought that metal hasn’t been valuable enough to hijacking since the middle ages, when vagrants took to robbing steel from ancient monuments like the Coliseum. But in today’s world, with the rising costs of copper for its many uses, metal is back on the black market. Copper has become a major article for theft in recent years, and along with vacant buildings, sub-stations, and cell towers, construction sites are also a frequently targeted subject for the thievery of copper. And that includes your potential future home.
Copper’s rising popularity, apart from its artistic properties, is due mostly to its excellent performance as a conductor of electricity. With the consistent use of electricity in buildings throughout the nation, copper has become essentially ubiquitous. And with the widespread use of copper comes the increased value. And with increased value, copper has become a major target for theft. A recent estimation from the Electrical Safety Foundation International claims upwards of 50,000 copper thefts occur every year. And despite new laws making copper theft a felony in any state, the statistics are rising.
Considering all the fuss about copper theft, the value of copper theft is not surprisingly high. The average scrap metal dealer will buy about 40 pounds of copper for anywhere from $50-100. While that might seem hardly worth the hassle, 40 pounds is the average amount of copper wiring that can be removed from a commercial air-conditioning unit (the most popular target for copper theft). And as easy as it is to hack away to obtain $100 worth of copper, the cost for repairs can be in the tens of thousands of dollars. In fact, the theft of copper (which only recently was a minor nuisance for home builders and businesses) is quickly becoming a major issue, costing over a billion dollars of a year.
Major businesses throughout Texas are being continually plagued by copper thieves, who break into abandoned complexes or construction sites, ripping copper tubing out of commercial air-conditioning units. Multiple businesses are actually being targeted multiple times. And according to the US Department of Energy, the cost of repairing and replacing the theft of copper wires, pipes, cables, and gutters that are being torn from walls and buildings every year is steadily increasing.
Other popular marks for copper thieves are substations: units that provide expensive high-voltage transmission lines to homes all over the US. These are particularly attractive targets for copper thieves because of the high value equipment and the mass quantities of copper used to conduct electricity underground. Yet, the risk for thieves is actually life threatening. Should they sever the wrong cords or touch the wrong conductors, the amount of voltage they expose themselves to is assuredly fatal. And the costs of the mess resulting afterwards can cost over three times the cost of the actual equipment and copper stolen.
So, with copper thievery solidifying itself as an immediate and serious threat to home and business owners (as well as the government as a whole), it is important to know how to prevent these attacks: perhaps the most simple of which is to increase awareness of copper theft. If residents are aware of the threat of copper theft in neighborhoods where construction is active, they would be more prone to report any suspicious activity and catch the perpetrators in the act. Diligence in this area could save home builders and owners from thousands of dollars of repair costs.
Another important measure that co-ops have initiated is the growing use of copper-clad steel in replacing the vulnerable copper wiring. This type of wiring is perfectly capable of the same electricity efficiency as copper, but has a much lower scrap value. It is also just as malleable, but can’t be cut with normal tools (even hydraulic bolt cutters!). This new measure is providing a major deterrent for copper thefts.
While copper theft is a growing felony that is affecting homeowners across the globe, it will not endure for long so long as the appropriate measures are taken. If the cheaper, less susceptible wiring of copper-clad steel is used in greater abundance, and residents across the nation are made at least partially aware of the threat of copper theft, the appeal for such a dangerous, low-reward act of thievery would drop drastically. So if you are building a home in the College Station/Bryan area, or anywhere across the nation, it is important to take the appropriate measures in preventing the devastating effects of copper theft on your home.
PS – Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
Insurance Tips for College Station Homeowners
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After the Debris Falls: Implosion of the University Plaza Hotel in College Station, Texas
May 25th, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
When I woke up on Thursday, May 24th, to watch the University Plaza Hotel implosion, I had expected to drive up to the Bonfire Memorial on Texas A&M Campus. There I would find a remote hill that overlooked the campus’ border tree-line so I could see as much of the building as possible without being caught in the crowds. Things didn’t work out how I had planned.
The streets were blocked off. Traffic was insane. And all of Bryan, College Station had woken up that hour earlier to watch the exciting spectacle. Thousands of city residents lined Texas Avenue, flooded the fields of the Bonfire Memorial, piled upon the beds of pick-ups and roofs of distant houses. Entire families had arrived to watch. I witnessed parents being dragged by excited children, hardly aware of the time or the reason they had driven all this way to fight through the crowd. Students leapt into trees for a better view (only to return to land, discovering the flourishing leaves completely impeded their vision). Droves of individuals, all ages and ethnicities, were flowing forward, as if being pulled to the base of that sight surrounding the Plaza Hotel. And then right at 6:30am, the crowds came to a halt. Everyone found their respective position, and all eyes gazed up. Nobody wanted to miss the spectacle set to start right at that moment.
Of course when 6:42 rolled around I was actually watching a triad of kids pushing and tackling one another in the manicured grass, rooting for the smaller child in a dragon-flame black hoodie. Then the cannon shot ripped through the air like victory at Kyle Field. It echoed along the silent, expectant streets of College Station, grabbing the attention of every onlooker. Then another explosion, flashing sparks of light and puffs of debris shooting out along the length of the buildings core. And the whole thing came crashing down.
[youtube width="425" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKrm2Q6XwNw[/youtube]
It almost looked like dominos set horizontally, collapsing upon one another from one end to the next. The explosion ripped through, and the left side of the structure simply sagged, sending a rippling collapse along the length of its frame. A tower on the right seemed to linger, obdurate, but then receded into the rising haze of dust. And then it was over. Billowing clouds of debris rose steadily into the air, reaching up like wings on either side of where the structure had stood, and then drifting slowly with the morning breeze. A mad rush to beat the traffic ensued immediately after.
Driving by the site thirteen hours later would show little evidence of a recent demolition. You might see a thin, black fence lining the corner of Texas Avenue and University Drive, a large poster reading “Precision Demolition” stretched across its frame. As you passed the length of University, through the cracks of buildings and construction machines you might glimpse a pile of concrete rubble about two stories tall, weighing heavily on the earth. No outside clutter, no stray blocks of concrete littering the surrounding streets or sidewalks. Just a clean, perfectly orchestrated implosion, designed by none other than College Station’s own civil engineers.
So what happens next?
First of all, the engineers are going to have to remove all demolished materials and debris, amounting to over 70,000 tons. Fortunately, this is not going to end up as wasteful as might be expected. Veronica Morgan, a leading Engineer of the Plaza Hotel demolition project, was quoted saying, “It’s not going to the landfill. It is not all garbage.” In fact, the materials from the Plaza Hotel are intended to be recycled. And that same concrete and asphalt is going to be used right here, in the Bryan, College Station area.
The materials are being sent to Brazos Paving, Inc. who plans to use the concrete and asphalt into usable road materials, after being finely crushed. So the same concrete that served as the walls and frame of the building which blemished your beautiful city skyline might now be the very material you drive over every day commuting to work along Highway 21(or at least once in awhile when you make a trip to Austin). Appropriate? I’d say so.
Civil Engineer Veronica Morgan informed the public that it might take a few weeks to remove the material from the implosion. However, there appears to be no rush since the future plans for this site of prime city real estate is still unclear. KBTX stated simply that the demolition is making way for “a new development at Texas Avenue and University Drive.” Similar ambiguous accounts make it clear that the future for this potentially thriving business location has not been released: but city officials have made clear their priority of converting this pivotal location to a development with promising economic returns. There has been speculation of student housing, a food and business market area, as well as additional bars or nightclubs. Whatever the future holds, let us hope the developers will find greater success than the locations previous owner.
PS – Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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Promising Prospects for the Market of Home Real Estate in College Station, Tx
May 22nd, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
For the past few months the nation has been hearing how the market is stabilizing. In fact, articles on evidence for the steadiness of the economy have become almost redundant. We get it. Unemployment rates are lower than they’ve been in years; businesses are once again growing and being created; the stock market (despite its occasional, but predictable vacillations) is growing slowly and steadily; and jobs are being created. Hurray, the economy has been saved. Life in the Brazos Valley can go back to what it once was. But there remains one minor question to be answered: when are we going to start seeing that reality reflect in the real estate industry?
The reality is that the unexpected plunge of real estate in Florida around 2009 sparked a nationwide real estate crisis. This, in turn, was one of the major flames to ignite our nation’s most recent recession. So it would appear only appropriate that the real estate industry suffer long after the recovery of every other aspect of our nation’s economy. The cause of our recession’s drought would inherently outlast the seemingly stable, progressing aspects of our pre-recession economy. Therefore, despite the various other regions of America’s economy now flourishing and returning to full vigilance, the market for selling and buying homes is supposed to linger in the arid economic desert until all signs of a healthy economy have been brought to light.
Which brings us to our next question: how much longer until the real estate market stabilizes as well? The answer, to the great enthrallment of homeowners still squatting in a vacant market, is not much longer. In fact, we might not have to wait at all. The economy is healthy, banks are recovering, jobs have been made, and homes are once more looking to be purchased.
Actually, little statistical evidence shows that the housing market is back on track. But for those hoping to get a head start, that doesn’t quite matter. Instead, the significant change has been the mood of potential buyers and sellers. That’s right: the attitude toward the housing market is changing, which is all the foreshadowing necessary to predict an upswing in the market for real estate. Think for a moment: with the economy stabilizing and the nations markets growing once more, people are anticipating that the housing market is going to bounce back as well. And rightly so. It’s a fact that it will only be a matter of time before the real estate industry recovers, and for potential home buyers looking to get the best deal on a selling home, now is the last chance to buy cheap.
But this isn’t just the biased perspective of a real estate blogger throwing out ideas. The Vice President and Chief Economist of Fannie Mae, Doug Duncan, claims that “conditions are coming together to encourage people to want to buy homes.” Duncan’s speculation comes from his understanding that “Americans’ rental price expectations for the next year continue to rise, reaching their record high level.” From these projections, Duncan predicts that some of America’s home renters might find home ownership as a more compelling option due to the rising rent prices.
Fannie Mae conducts a real estate survey every month, and the vibe emanating from the respondents are suggesting some interesting things. To start, the percent of respondents who think that it is a good time to buy has reach a high of 73%. To accompany this compelling statistic, the number of respondents who claimed it is a good time to sell also rose. This coupling suggests the market is ready to expand, as buyers and sellers come closer to reaching an agreement on the negotiated and offered prices. With more people looking to sell and more looking to buy, the market automatically grows. From there it’s only a matter of processing statistics to show that home sales are finally recovering.
Perhaps the dramatic increase of respondents looking to buy is an effect of projected rising home sales. In fact, regarding respondents’ expectations of home price increases over the next twelve months, the highest amount of respondents from this entire year claimed home prices would climb. Also, coinciding with Vice President Doug Duncan’s understanding, almost 50% of respondents are anticipating rental prices to go up.
For further encouragement regarding the real estate market, 66% of the respondents of Fannie Mae’s survey claimed that, if they were to move within the next year, they would buy a home. This is a strikingly encouraging prospect (assuming the opinions of Fannie Mae’s respondents are reflective of the overall population), and owners with homes on the market can certainly look forward to a steadily growing pool of potential home buyers.
All in all, Fannie Mae’s survey shows us not that the market for home real estate is already recovering, but rather that the opinions and attitudes of the public are gradually shifting in the favor of the real estate market. Rising renting costs are causing people to shift their interest back to home ownership. Low prices for homes, likely only to rise over the next years, are also encouraging prospects for potential home buyers. And the overall stabilization of the economy is assuring potential home owners that the value of their purchase will not plummet the moment after they purchase their new home. So while the statistics are showing very little in the means of a growing market for the real estate industry, it is clear that America is ready to trust home ownership once more. And because of this, the market for real estate will begin steadily restoring itself.
PS – Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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Demolition and Renewal: a History of the Plaza Hotel in College Station
May 19th, 2012 Categories: Texas A&M University
Almost every Bryan/College Station resident would admit to driving past the abandoned Plaza Hotel occasionally in their weekly routine, if not daily. The seventeen story concrete shell stands at the intersection of Texas Avenue and University Drive, arguably the two busiest streets in the whole city. And after 6:30am on Thursday, May 24th 2012, this once pivotal structure will be reduced to nothing more than a pile of shattered concrete and useless rubble.
If you’ve driven through the city of College Station in the past few weeks, it’s likely that you’ve noticed the unusual vacancy of the Plaza Hotel. Not that you would be expected to notice a parking lot or diminished business: instead, it is the actual building itself which you would’ve noticed. The windows of various apartments and hotel rooms appear to almost open up to the sky behind the structure. I myself have viewed this spectacle on a few sunset evenings, when the sky behind the Plaza Hotel was painted with the various colors of sunset, the different tones of orange, pink, or Easter purple leaking through the hollowed frame of the seventeen story structure. It’s more than evident then, peering up through the cracks in the concrete frame, to understand how completely abandoned the Plaza Hotel had become. And to hear now that the building will be imploded this upcoming Thursday, you might not be entirely surprised.
But how did this pivotal structure, the hotel that has had such a powerful presence in the history of our growing city, come to such an abrupt end? In such instances as this, it is sometimes important to understand the buildings past in order to appreciate the present circumstances.
What we know today as the Plaza Hotel actually began as a Ramada Inn, the first foundations of which were laid in the late 1950s. Joe Ferreri, the constructor of the Ramada Inn, was approached in the 1950s by Earl Rudder of Texas A&M. Attracted to Ferreri’s success as a drive-inn restaurant owner, Rudder approached Joe with the proposition to construct a badly needed hotel on the Corner of Texas Avenue and University. After appearing hesitant about the project due to his lack of experience in the hotel industry, Rudder encouraged him forward, getting the young businessman to wonder how much different it could be than the food industry.
So Joe began to build. By 1960 the Ramada Inn opened, looking far different than the Plaza Hotel that we know today. The Ramada had been a quaint, two story Inn with an Olympic swimming pool, faculty club, banquet hall, and just over 150 rooms. But this quiet corner served as a focal point for the College Station and Texas A&M community.
The Ramada Inn had immediate success and was consistently pushed to over 90% of its overall capacity. In fact, the hotel had such great business that Ferreri was pressed to expand. In 1980 he began the construction of a new high-rise for his Hotel, and in just one year an additional seventeen story tower was built: making the shell of the structure that you see today.
But despite the initial success of Ferreri’s expanded hotel and the overall consistent business he was receiving from the community at large, only a few years after the construction of the Hotel’s new high-rise, Joe Ferreri was forced to sell the Ramada Inn. In the early 1980s there was a major economic recession, much like the most recent economic events of the late 21st Century. Rising interest rates on the debts incurred from Ferreri’s construction, along with the overall state of the economy and slowing business, forced Ferreri out of his prized construction. The result was a loss of over 32 million dollars in assets and personal funds. Ferreri was left only with his home, a single car, and his family.
Since then what began as the Ramada Inn has switched ownership several times, becoming most recently what it is known as today: the Plaza Hotel. And it would appear that a similar fate befell the success of the Plaza Hotel’s business, the inevitable slip to bankruptcy that caused the hotel to close its doors for the last time in 2010.
Unfortunately, the story does not end there. After the abandonment of the Plaza Hotel, the twelve acre site of prime real-estate has become a hot-spot for crime, vandalism, and drug use. Criminals have been simply unable to avoid the alluring pull of an abandoned, seventeen story shelter full of furniture, walls, and glass. Security has been gradually increasing over the past few months, but authorities have become hard-pressed for the funds to support the coverage of such a broad area when the use of civil authorities is generally looked for elsewhere. So what is the result? Demolition.
The demolition project has been delegated to the local Civil Engineering Company, Mitchell and Morgan. Veronica Morgan is the lead Civil Engineer in charge of the implosion, which is currently set to occur around 6:30am this Thursday, the 24th of May. The event will be free and open to the public. Veronica Morgan herself hopes the implosion “will be an event for the community.” Many are certainly looking forward to the removal of the towering Plaza Hotel, which has been described by as an ‘eyesore’ to the community at large.
While future construction in the Plaza Hotel area is still unclear (there has been speculation about student housing, shopping/eating centers, night clubs, etc.), it is obvious and in popular demand that the archaic, outdated shell of the 1960s Ramada Inn be destroyed and replaced with a more aesthetically appealing structure. While the overall value of the land has decreased 28.7% from 2008 to 2010, it is still located in a prime location with an excellent promise of prosperous business. The city allegedly has had multiple propositions processed over the past several months, and the entire community is excited to find out what the future will hold.
PS – Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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Would You like Some Lemonade? Help Our Brazos Valley Kids!
May 16th, 2012 Categories: Uncategorized
Driving through the twin cities a couple weeks ago, Bryan and College Station, it was not unlikely that you ran upon a lemonade stand or two. These small makeshift stands littered the city and were stationed upon many street corners and in front of numerous bigger businesses. Star wars characters greeted some customers, while enthused young girls in yellow shirts and bows sold lemonade to others. There were kids who chose to blow bubbles to draw in his customers, while other kids opted for large booths with loud music to draw in attention. And of course, there was the always traditional modest sized lemonade stand and signs operated by some.
When kids were asked what they were going to do with the money they earned, some replied they were going to “spend it!” Others decided to give the money they raised to their church. The main point is that the children learned how to work for money and learned that they had the freedom to decide what they were going to do with the profit they earned. They were allowed to feel grown up and allowed a taste of the real world. This type of experience excites children and allows them the freedom to make decisions for themselves.
Sunday May 6 was Lemonade Day in 31 cities across America and Canada, including Bryan and College Station. When Lemonade Day first began, it included about 2,700 kids. Now, more than 120,000 kids across these 31 cities participate in the day. Lemonade Day was started as a program to give experience to children, teaching them entrepreneurship skills. Kids learn to plan, start, and operate a business through their experiences with Lemonade Day.
Kids were offered the chance to mark their lemonade stands on a map online that would be available to the community on Lemonade Day. The stand locations were given the opportunity to be published not only to the online map, but also to Facebook, Twitter, and via email.
The goal is to prepare children to be empowered future citizens. Upon registering, each child received a backpack that contained an Entrepreneur Workbook, teaching them 14 lessons that are a central part of Lemonade Day. They learned how to create budgets, how to set profit-making goals, how to serve customers, how to repay investors, and how to give back to the community. In addition to learning how to perform these skills, they also learned the value of the skills. The children are also taught how to set goals for themselves, how to problem solve, and how to gain self-esteem which will aid them in their future endeavors for success.
On Lemonade Day, children are allowed to keep all of the money that they make and are encouraged by adults to spend some of their money, save some of it, and share some of it with others less fortunate.
Lemonade Day teaches kids a very special and specific set of skills from financial literacy and economics, to college readiness and career, to life skills and personal development, and of course academics. The financial literacy and economics that the kids learn include subjects like capital equipment and consumables, supply and demand, credit, debt, gross and net income, marginal utility, return on investment and compound interest. To prepare kids for college, they are exposed to critical thinking and collaboration, interest in attending college, civic responsibility, customer service, teamwork and problem solving and presentation skills and design. Children also learn life skills and personal development such as leadership, the belief that attaining goals is within reach, personal productivity, self-direction and time management, social responsibility and charity, high order thinking and social skills and self confidence. The day also increases the kids’ academic capacities such as math calculations, reading and interpreting data, and oral and written communication.
Lemonade Day offers an online website for kids to register and sign up on. Lemonade Day sponsors and partners include many businesses and individuals in the area, including Dick and Linda Lester, Lenae Heubner, Atmos Energy, Double Dave’s Pizzaworks, James and Paula Lancaster, Research Valley, Len and Nancy Berry, Mathnasium, Caldwell Companies, AgniTEK, Wells Fargo, Research Valley Funds, Blue Baker, Documation, Copy Corner, Kroger, Ecolyse, Brazos Valley Small Business Development Center, College Station ISD, Bryan Broadcasting, The Eagle, Chamber of Commerce, Bryan ISD, Sideshow Creative, the City of College Station, KBTX Media, Brazos Monthly, KAMU, Mays Business School, AbouTown Press, KAGS, and the City of Bryan.
If you like to help out with and work with children, then you may want to consider becoming a volunteer for Lemonade Day. Volunteers are necessary to run Lemonade Day and are needed to stuff backpacks that are given out to the children to teach them entrepreneurship, spread the news about Lemonade Day by distributing materials to local schools and youth organizations, register youth to participate at special events going on in the community, and lastly you can help out by blogging, tweeting, or sharing information about Lemonade Day online or through Facebook!
PS - Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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