May 18, 2012
Poinciana Elementary Wins Nationwide Competition

Students at Poinciana Elementary School (PES) took lemons and made lemonade – literally. And, those lemons led them to winning the nationwide “Great Lemonade War” – a contest sponsored by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to promote literacy and raise funds for pediatric cancer research. PES took the national crown by raising $10,301 in just a few short weeks – that’s the most collected out of all the schools participating across the country.

For the competition, participating schools used the book The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies as a springboard to start lemonade wars at their schools. Students competed against each other and against other schools across the nation to raise the most money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Poinciana’s lemonade war efforts included a competition among grade levels to see who could collect the most spare change, as well as a school-run lemonade stand at a local Publix location, and individual student-run lemonade stands. Stories of the selfless generosity found among PES students abound – kids took in birthday, tooth fairy, and allowance money, and did extra chores to raise funds to donate. Visit www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/80054 to read more about the special stories.

As a reward for their hard work and for winning this nationwide competition, PES received a visit from author Jacqueline Davies, as well as Alex’s dad, Jay Scott, on Friday, May 18. Right before the assembly to welcome the special guests, PES held a small ceremony to dedicate two lemon trees growing in their garden. The garden was made possible by a grant from The Education Foundation, and the lemon trees will be dedicated to Alex Scott (the namesake of the foundation) who has inspired the school and many others to help sick children. PES will be using the lemons from their trees to make their own lemonade in an effort to continue supporting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

To learn more, please contact PES teacher and the school’s “Lemonade War” coordinator Allison Bringardner or PES Principal Susan Daniel at 377-8100