Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2014, Page 103

Description:	Life is prettysweet forJuniorAshtonHendricks —6 years old,and alreadyco-ownerand co-founder ofher ownbakery,Sweets &Such.The process of mixing countless ingredientsand carefully preparing recipes to bake; thesmell of sweets baking in the oven; thesatisfaction of creating something delicious.These are all familiar sensations to anyonewho has baked desserts, or even seenwitnessed the creation of sweet treats.However, not many people can say theyown a bakery - let alone in high school.Junior Ashton Hendricks is the exception.Hendricks started baking the summerbefore her freshman year of high school,when her older sister Lyric had come homefrom college for the summer. We hadalways enjoyed watching the show CakeBoss on TLC and were fascinated by thecreations [baker Buddy Valastro] makes, sowe decided to try it ourselves, Hendricksexplained. At the time, it was JustinBiebers prime and we were head overheels for him. One night, when we werebored, we made a Justin Bieber cake. Weenjoyed baking together so much that westarted to do it more often. The sistersstarted to post pictures of their sweetcreations on their personal Facebook pagesand eventually began receiving requestsfrom paying clients. Together, we startedto get very busy and realized that it wastime to pursue our dream, Hendricks said.[It was time to] extend our baking beyondour Facebook friends and create Sweets &Such Home Bakery.What first drew Hendricks to bakingwas the creativity afforded by the freedomof creation of her sweet treats. I get todraw and design the product, particularlycakes, and make them just like I had inmind, Hendricks said. Seeing the finalproduct is an awesome feeling ofachievement.Co-owning a bakery at 16 years oldis not exactly a piece of cake, though. It canbe difficult to find the time to bake inaddition to making time for school work,extracurricular activities and a social life.Hendricks admitted that baking is anoverwhelming and physically demandingtask. When an order is due, an order isdue, she explained. Many all-nighters arepulled when baking for an event; thats justpart of it. There is not much preparation wecan do other than days before the order isdue because everything we make is fresh.Despite the difficulties involved,Hendricks loves what she and her sister haveaccomplished and encourages others topursue their passions. My advice to highschool students wanting to start a business ofany kind would be to start small, she said.Building a business takes time; were stillbuilding Sweets & Such. The best thing thatbaking, or this business, has taught me is todream big. It sounds cliche, but never would Iimagine being in the position I am in today. Idreamt of a bakery and now its comingtrue.- MACKENZIE MOTSINGERIn true selfie style, thisclass crowded in most tig lilt was super clever to have selfiesselfie. Selfie-ception.Great use of props makesthis selfie more exciting.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/9209
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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