Encinitas Union School District
101 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road
Encinitas, California 92024-4349
Phone: (760) 944-4300 | FAX (760) 944-4393

Education Committee honors student business and
14 other top programs

The Chamber Education Committee honored a sixth-grade teacher whose class created a profitable and benevolent dog biscuit company as Carlsbad’s Outstanding Educational Program on April 27.

Teacher Jeanne Benowitz’s La Costa Heights Elementary School class owns Rebecca’s Recipe, a dog biscuit company that cooks, packages, sells and delivers dog biscuits. They have donated $1,500 in profits to an organization that trains guide dogs for the blind.

The Education Committee honored Benowitz’s class and 14 other programs at an awards dinner with nearly 300 business leaders, educators and school supporters in attendance at La Costa Resort & Spa. Benowitz was awarded $850, and the other programs $350 each as an honorarium for their contributions to local education.

"This class has taught students a variety of real world skills: public speaking, writing, math and accounting," said Patti Stark-Horne, chairman of the Education Committee.

The sixth-grade students spend the last hour of class time working and cooking for the company. Students created the recipe, refining the amount of garlic powder and bacon grease needed to give the dog biscuit the perfect crunch, appetizing smell, yet still remain affordable. The recipe is named after a guide dog the class adopted.

Students bake the recipe in double or triple batches, and package the baked biscuits. They record in their portfolios a cost analysis, breaking down how much each bag costs to produce, including the bag, the label, the contents and the string to tie it. And students are required to do a market study, gathering information on the competition.

Students filled out job applications for four CEOs, two CFOs, an executive chef, cooks, packaging manager, assistants, marketing and advertising reps and of course, sales staff. The company’s mission statement is: "Kids on a mission helping those with limited vision." Every week, the CEOs meet and pick a "employee of the week."

Because of the program’s popularity, extensive media coverage and community awareness, the students were able to donate $1,500 to the Guide Dogs of the Desert and had the donation matched by a couple from Palm Springs.

Benowitz said, "I am proud to say that each and every one of my students will indeed become a valuable member of society, thanks to what they have learned, not only about math, writing or public speaking but about humanity. My students may not remember anything they learned this year from their math books, but no one will forget Rebecca’s Recipe!"