Maris Hart

Changemakers Story

Maris Hart

12/16/14

 

 

Have you ever taken a second to read the nutrition label on the back of that soda your drinking? The American Heart Association recommends that Americans consume no more than five to nine teaspoons of sugar per day, but most Americans today have no idea that a 20-ounce bottle of soda contains the equivalent of approximately 16 teaspoons of sugar. Between 1977 and 2001 Americans' daily calorie consumption increased by 250-300 calories, nearly half of which (43%) came from sugary drinks alone.   Obesity, type two diabetes, kidney infections and other health problems have sky-rocketed in 2014 alone! What is the cause of all this distress you ask? What has worked single-handedly to wipe out healthy teenagers and young adults everywhere? One word; Soda.

Three students at Riverpoint Academy in Spokane WA, were asked to create a solution to a problem we were passionate about. After completing a different project we found out that a big health problem in teenagers-young adult life was obesity, and health issues. And the leading cause in weight gain is, soda. So my group and I broke down a popular soda “Coke” and researched all the ingredients and removed the unhealthy ones and replace them with healthy, gluten-free, no high-fructose alternatives.

You may be wondering, why gluten? Well although gluten is in so many of our foods, it still doesn’t make it healthy . A study in 2013 shows that a third of americans are actively trying to eliminate gluten from their diets.  IF our soda was to become popular in Washington state; which is where the soda brand began, it would be safe to say that that one third of the population that is trying to eliminate gluten from their diets could drink our soda. In Washington state alone the population is 6,971,406. One third of that number 2,323,802 that’s a lot of consumers who couldn’t buy the product before, or chose not to. 

The next thing we eliminated was high fructose corn syrup. It was hard to eliminate this from our product because most of the ingredients that we chose to make our product had high fructose in them. In this situation, amazon was our best friend. Because they provided us plain extracts of flavors without gluten or high fructose corn syrup.

After we had our rough draft of our very first soda we asked teenagers around our school to taste test for us. We even got little taste testing cups and lids to match to make our taste test as sanitary as possible. Next we asked people around our high school, people of all different origins and shapes and sizes to test our soda. To get feedback from everyone possible. The feedback we got on the very first day was a mixture of likes, loves, dislikes and hates. Something useful we took away, however, was that no two people have the exact same taste buds. And what one user might love, one might hate. Also, the farther back the drink touches the tounge also effects the taste.

We adjusted our soda based on the feedback that people gave us. Also while we were taste testing we asked people to tell us what ingredients were strongest and what ingredients they would like to see more of. We added and extracted accordingly. Our next step was to take our soda publicly. We visited multiple places to see what the public thought of our creation.

We visited a public high school to get more reviews rather than just our high school. Because we wanted new people to try our soda. We asked the students and some faculty members to record there favorite soda and eliminated the sodas with the least amount of favorites.

            The last place we visited was gluten free bakery. It was a slow day for the bakery so only a couple people tasted our product, but those who did assured us that it was a worth while product and they would spend their money on it in a store.

            The places we attempted in between were many, but only few accepted our request. We visited Walmart, Winco, Rosausers, Yokes and other local businesses and asked to taste test our product in their store but we were told at all of them it was not allowed. We also called several more elementary schools, we were turned down here as well. But what is success without failure first?

            When we had our soda eliminated to our favorite top three sodas we realized the fun part of our soda making company was over, and sat down to work. Our next step in the process was to create a legitimate label, complete with daily values, nutrition facts, our business logo and percentages of calories based on a 2,000 calorie diet. After consulting math whizzes at our school my group figured out how to divide each ingredient into a daily value diet of 2,000 calories to find the percentage intake.

            Our logo is our product name “MCM” which stands for Maris, Chelsee, Makayla. Our logo also promotes how our soda is 100% natural, without as many toxins and without high fructose corn syrup or gluten.

            Our product at this stage is completed and ready to sell. Our next step Is to find local shops or even a company to buy our product. That is the task were currently working on. Our plan is to hopefully get our product picked up/looked at by a successful soda company at exhibition on January 22nd. We also may take our product downtown to our local invention finding competition. “Exhibition”is what my school uses to showcase our learning to our parents, relatives and anyone who is curious about what we do here at Riverpoint Academy. This Exhibition me and my group will be so proud to present our semester project “MCM”. I have learned so much from this project like about people and how to sell an item or items. I have also learned how to find daily value percentages and how important it is to have a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.

            I am so passionate about this project and am so excited to see where the future takes the soda industry. I am looking forward to seeing MCM succeed and am excited to see were this project and lifestyle takes my group, I, and its consumers.