The smell of fresh baked cookies fills the halls every Friday as the life skills students make another batch of homemade cookies. Selling for the $.25 each, it’s part of a lesson to help the students become more familiar with with exchanging money.

“We’re helping the students work with change and learn how much change to give back, so we are helping them with money,” senior Life Skills student aid Preston Durham said. “So if they give us a five dollar bill, and they only want like three dollars worth of cookies, then they have to know how much change to give back to them.”

The Life Skills students enjoy the learning activity.

“I like to make cookies,” sophomore David Goodroe said. “I like to pour the batter. I like to sell cookies to people. I also like to wear my blue gloves when I cook.”

Other than learning to count change, the Life Skills students also participate in the cookie baking process.

“The students help make the cookies and learn how to measure out how much flour and sugar and other ingredients we might need,” Life Skills Aid Jana Gibson said. “They scoop the dough with the scooper and use the machine to mix it all together. We also make sure that they always wash their hands and wear gloves before we start baking.”

There are no profits as the cookie sales are strictly for learning purposes.

“Our goal is not to make a profit,” Life Skills Teacher Sherria Bracey said. “A parent is supporting us and whatever amount we make off of the sales we give to her, and she goes out and buys the supplies we need. The money we make goes strictly toward our baking materials.”

The cookies may be a lesson for the Life Skills students, but regardless of the purpose, the result is tasty.

“My cookies were really good,” senior Hannah Ottinger said. “They were warm, sweet, fresh, and squishy in the middle. They were super inexpensive, and I am very glad they did this.”