Students at St. Joseph’s Academy are introducing St. Joe Dough, a student-run enterprise selling cookies to the community while learning real-life skills to help them in future endeavors.

Yvette Aillet, family and consumer science teacher at SJA, introduced the idea for an entrepreneurship course last year intending to give her students the most real-life experience possible. Through this class, students learn the development of a business from forming plans on paper, to research and product development, and finally, seeing the product come to life.

“They have been involved in every step since August,” Aillet says. “This has been such a unique opportunity for the girls to work with industry professionals and support staff on campus to make this vision come to life.”

St. Joe Dough offers customers packs of 12 or 24 frozen cookie discs with the choice of chocolate chunk, red velvet and sugar with Christmas sprinkles, all of which can be purchased online.

“Cookies are hot right now,” says Aillet. “Industry trends are suggesting they are already a billion-dollar industry, and projected to grow a minimum of 5% from now until 2028. Even in Baton Rouge, the industry is growing.”

St. Joe Dough flavors will rotate monthly with a variety of offerings. Holiday orders of St. Joe Dough cookies can be placed here.