A group of creative seventh-graders at High Tech Middle Media Arts in Point Loma have started their own lip balm business called SD Lip Balm. A group of 55 total students are involved, and humanities teacher Gina Wickstead is their supervisor. The students are doing this as their project, as High Tech Middle Media Arts is a project-based school. The school’s grant, Real World Scholars, gave these students the start-up money to help them progress on their idea.
“We just started brainstorming a lot of products that we could potentially sell such as lipstick, lip scrub, and candles,” said Melahni Owens, a seventh-grader and one of the project managers. “We came down to lip balm because it was all inclusive, it wasn’t for one age group, or one gender, and thought that everyone could use it.”
They have 11 different brands of lip balm to choose from, and whenever a purchase is made, 10 percent of the profit will go to various charities around San Diego. “We have a small business,” said Maya Lopez, a fellow seventh-grader and one of the other project managers. “We want people to know that what they’re buying goes to something special, and not just our business, but to charity.”
The team so far has sold $1,946 worth of products, with 33 total products sold and 28 orders processed. They typically sell their products within San Diego, but even the company “BetterLesson,” located in Boston, reached out to SD Lip Balm looking for a huge order. “BetterLesson reached out, and they wanted 200 [orders of lip balm], and we got like $500,” said Owens.
They have their products in six stores in Ocean Beach, including Saltwater Surf Supply and South Coast Surf, and as well as another store in Bay Park. “I set up the first seven businesses, one in Bay Park, for them,” said Wickstead. “Then, on their own, they’ve been reaching out to other people. Melahni got us in the seventh business, Saltwater Surf Supply.”
The idea for this project originated in November 2018, so these brilliant seventh graders have a long future ahead of them in continuing this lip balm business in San Diego, and maybe even expanding outside of it as the business grows.
For more information, check out the SD Lip Balm website at sdlipbalm.com.
