This year the Carlisle High School Culinary Arts program will no longer be conducting donut day, which had been a tradition at the high school but will try new fundraisers instead.

“Donut Day was cut mainly due to it not being very profitable,” said senior Jasmine Handshew, a culinary student. “In place of donut day, we did sell whoopie pies but that fundraiser has now ended.”

Donut Day was a day at Carlisle High School where the culinary program would come in early for a few days to prepare fresh donuts for Carlisle High Schools students and staff that could be bought at a bargain price. This is the first time in a long while that the culinary students won’t be making the donuts. There are mixed feelings on whether or not dropping donut day was a wise decision.

Dave Iben, a junior this year at Carlisle High School who was a culinary student last year and is again this year said that “It is kind of sad to see Donut Day go. I do know those that came in early worked seriously to prepare for the event and they prepared fresh donuts for a long time, some coming in really early in the morning a few days ahead of time to prepare. I never got a chance to really help prepare for Donut Day myself, but it would have been a nice experience to be a part of.”

Senior Hannah Cutchall who is also a student to Carlisle High School’s culinary program offers some perspective into how much work went into preparing for Donut Day: “Last year I showed up at 4:30 in the morning to help prepare and some people that came to help later weren’t as serious about preparing the donuts.”

“Plus, last year there were [two-hour] delays and that caused a lot of time issues with Donut Day,” said Cutchall. “Sometimes, we came in early and couldn’t do anything, because delays caused the Donut Day to be held back.”

She added, “I think it is difficult for some people to see the tradition go, but I think people should be open to other ideas also. The whoopie pie fundraiser was an example of good idea to start.”

All three culinary students interviewed made it clear that the final decision to cut Donut Day was the Chef’s, but most also understood why it had to be cut.

Chef Carey Ehly, like many of his students, said, “The main reason the event was cut was due to it not being profitable and also it being a safety issue.”

Do you have a good idea for a Culinary Arts fundraiser?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!