Each year, the seniors in DECA teacher Mitchell Albert’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hospitality and tourism class form a Junior Achievement Fellows entrepreneur project. In this project, students are able to create their own business as a group and participate in different competitions. This year, the seniors created a candle-making business that aims to educate others on mental health, called “That’s LIT.”

The students and Albert assigned teams and officers to help ensure that their business runs smoothly. There is a marketing team run by Lucy Greene, sales team run by Emma Kramer, management team run by Macy Meis and a finance team run by Evelyn Patton. Each student is then assigned to a team and works in groups to make sure that their part of the business helps towards the success of the business as a whole.

The candles are sold online on their website, as well as in person at different local events in South Florida. The candles come in two different sizes, 7 oz and 20 oz, and cost $15 and $12 respectively. Customers also have the opportunity to customize their candle, which incurs a $5 upcharge.

“‘That’s LIT’ has taught me a lot about entrepreneurship, marketing, management, and so much more,” project CEO Ananyaa Sutaria said. “I feel prepared to go out into the real world, and I have a step up compared to others. I have an idea of what it’s like to run a company, and there couldn’t be a better opportunity for exposure. I will carry all of these lessons with me as I go to college and enter the workforce.”

The students entered “That’s Lit” into the Junior Achievement Fellows competition, in which senior hospitality students around the United States compete for the best business.

The competition takes place throughout the school year, during this time, students can run their business and promote it to other students, family, friends and people in their community. The competition caps each project’s profits at $750, ensuring the competition is fair to all those participating.

“LIT” stands for laughter, inspiration and tranquility, helping to promote the importance of mental health alongside the product itself. Meis and Sutaria have found that those three aspects are the things that the Parkland and Coral Springs communities find the most relevant.

“Beyond just our company, there’s positivity in the light that we want to spread [to] the world–no pun intended, since it’s candles,” Meis said.

The candle scents that “That’s LIT” produces correlate to each of its letters—for instance, a candle with a eucalyptus scent would go under the tranquility category of candles—and the coloring of the candle and graphic corresponds to the letter as well. When the candles are purchased, 10% of the profits from the specific candle go towards the charity that they are matched with.

Each letter corresponds to the three charities that “That’s LIT” donates to as a part of the business. They support Laughter Heals–another DECA JA project–which is an international nonprofit that advocates for the healing properties of laughter that correlate with mental and physical wellbeing. For inspiration, they support breast cancer research. The profits of the eucalyptus candle, correlated to tranquility, will be donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation

“I really enjoy showing that even as teenagers that we’re capable of creating a great business and running a business within our classroom,” Meis said. “I think it’s just a very big testament to our generation and kind of shows the world what we have to offer, and it will only grow from here as we grow in the future.”

The students are also working to promote the business throughout the City of Parkland. Every other Sunday, representatives from “That’s LIT” attend the Parkland Farmers’ Market to sell their candles. They also allow for any and all customers to customize their candle with their mobile graphic system.

“That’s LIT” currently does most of their business at the Farmers’ Market, but they also started an online platform where people can purchase and customize their own candles without going to the market. The website is thats-lit-candles.squarespace.com, and they have an Instagram account @thatcandleislit, which people can send direct messages to buy candles as well.

The sale for “That’s LIT” candles will continue for a few more months, allowing for MSD’s team to continue participating in the competition.

This story was originally published in the March 2023 Eagle Eye print edition.