A table covered with a bright yellow tablecloth supports the weight of a pan of frosted pumpkin bars, boxes of brownies, platters of cookies, bagged marshmallow pops, and tie-dyed muffins and cupcakes. Brightly colored flags stick out of the muffins, toothpicks set in the center of spiraled buttercream frosting. At the side, rainbow Puravida bracelets hang from a bracelet tree with spiral branches. Handfuls of temporary tattoos lay at its base: an assortment of colored cupcakes, She’s the First logos, and Bake a Change messages. The resulting scene — Brookfield Central She’s the First’s Bake a Change Tie-Dye bake sale.

An initiative of the entire She’s the First organization, Bake a Change is a bake sale that takes place in the month of November. Like most She’s the First events, the purpose is to raise money to help fund girls’ education. The event came to the attention of the Brookfield Central chapter after the She’s the First Campus reached out to them through social media. They hosted the event on Friday, November 30 as their first fundraiser of the year.

To get the most out of the event, members were invited to bring baked goods. With the theme of the bake sale being tie-dye, She’s the First ended up with an assortment of rainbow sweets contributed by seven dedicated members. “After break, I figured not many people would be able to make treats so soon, but everyone really came through for us. I was really happy to see that so many were dedicated to the cause and willing to take time out of their Thursday nights on such short notice to help bake something,” said Communications Chair Shweta Panda (‘20). Panda herself made tie-dyed muffins, topped with frosting and toothpick flags.

The bake sale took place during lunch periods, accumulating a total of $164.50 at the end. Panda expressed pride in the results: “I think the event exceeded my expectations. I was very pleased with what we had accomplished. Our hard work most definitely showed results. We have a strong and growing chapter, and it is great to see that so many of them are dedicated to our events.” Panda attributed a portion of the success to Vice President Elise Sadler (‘19), saying “Special shout out to Elise, VP of the club, who helped me figure out some of the logistics, came in early, and bought tattoo papers. She helped me ensure everything ran smoothly and was engaging for those involved.”

Still, the event was not without its mishaps. Halfway through B lunch, Hannah Keehan (‘20) approached the Bake a Change table holding one of the free temporary tattoos. The issue: the words on the tattoo were forward-facing. The tattoo designs had been taken off of the She’s the First website and printed onto tattoo paper– in color –with the help of the librarian. What hadn’t been noticed at the time had now become apparent to Panda– if the words were forward-facing prior to application, they would read backwards once applied. Panda decided to test a tattoo out on herself to see if this was indeed the case. Much to her dismay, the tattoo didn’t work, forwards or backwards. The solution– reclassify the tattoos as stickers. “Maybe we should have just stuck with stickers altogether,” commented Panda.

Despite this, Panda enjoyed the event, especially the colorful theme. “Tie dye in baked goods is far from the conventional bake sale agenda and definitely eye-catching. A win for everyone, if you ask me (us because we make the moolas and the curious eyes that delight at our colorful cupcakes).” For their next large-scale initiative, She’s the First plans on hosting Cheese the First, an entirely cheese-based dining event. Panda herself anticipates the event: “Seeing the success here, I can’t wait to see what we come up with on a larger scale.”