Is this a joke? Are there actually going to be cookies? These were likely the thoughts of the majority of the students as they made their way to the first-ever Cookie Decorating Club(CDC) meeting 

The meeting was held in room 115 right after school. As it was the first meeting, there were worries about how many attendees would be there. And those worries were justified. There were a lot, and I mean A LOT, of people — like 40-50 bodies. It was crowded! This only made the leadership of the club founders Abby Leininger and Madelyn Power even more impressive when they took the reins of the group. The meeting consisted of an informative PowerPoint regarding the club’s guides, mission, and needs. After the meeting concluded cookies were provided to any stragglers still remaining.

Madelyn Power gets most of the credit for starting the club.  According to Abby, “Madelyn has talked about the idea of [this club] constantly since freshman year.”  After talking to quite a few people, it was agreed that it would be not only an interest club but a service club as well.”

Starting any new club here at West has many challenges.  The first is to find a teacher-sponsor.  Realizing that most teachers wouldn’t want to bother staying after school, AND have a messy room at the end of the day, the girls decided to ask first choice, Mr. Burns, who thankfully accepted.

Additionally, Abby added that another challenge was “Money. We decided the best possible way of cutting down on supplies was to assign each member with one specific supply needed and have them bring in such supplies to diminish the costs.” 

Next, the cookie decorating club needed an aim and mission, which became “to create a fun, relaxed environment where our members can enjoy the art of cookie decorating while learning new techniques. We hope to raise awareness of community involvement by donating large quantities of our cookies to food banks and homeless shelters in the Greater Cincinnati area. We hope to provide our members with service hours for their dedicated support and baked goods they supply.”  Abby and Madeline hope to gain more members who are excited about giving back to their community and are willing to donate their own baked goods as well as their decorating skills to this cause. They are already planning on working with other clubs at LWHS to increase awareness of CDC and our cause.”

What started as one girl’s perhaps silly dream, blossomed into the fastest growing club at Lakota West. A club that’s more than just the decoration of baked goods. A club that fosters a sense of community. A club where strangers become buddies, enemies become allies, and exes become friends. And if that doesn’t happen, well, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.