Annabelle Yang, Sprinkle of Joy President and senior

What made you want to join this club initially?

Before my freshman year, when I was looking at club lists, I really wanted to join a baking club because when I was a freshman I kind of wanted to go into the culinary route which is totally different then what I’m thinking about right now. I really wanted to engage more in that in my high school career so I found this club on that website (club list page) and I also happened to know the former president from outside of school. Also, I think the club fairs were really helpful in knowing what the club is about and it was interesting.

What do people do at Sprinkle of Joy?

Our meetings are one Wednesday every month. So it’s pretty easy to come and just work into your schedule. At our meetings we usually have each student bring their own baked goods. You definitely do it with your friends or you don’t have to bake at all and just come to the meetings. At the meetings we give a short presentation on what we are doing during that club meeting and then we get started. Grace Guo (secretary of SoJ and junior) will give the presentation on how to package the baked goods and we do provide the packaging materials. After we give instructions, we will have all the supplies laid out on the table and then everyone can start packaging the goods. We will also have letter making if we are targeting a specific population like firefighters or teachers.

What was your biggest accomplishment last year?

I definitely think that the biggest accomplishment of every single month with Sprinkle of Joy are the distributions. So once the students bake and package, they can choose to join us on the distributions to the site of course with COVID that has been a little difficult. As we, the club officers, visit and give them to a person or a group, it’s really heart warming to see their faces and their sayings of grace and thanks.

What do you hope to improve or change this year?

I definitely want students to participate in the distribution cycles and go into the sites. I know they are underclassmen and it can be hard to get transportation. That is something I was looking forward to and just being able to see how you are impacting your community can really change your mindset.

Why do you think it’s important to give back?

There are definitely populations that are obviously affected like people who are underserved and they do need a lot of help. There are also populations, like teachers, we see every day and I think it’s important to highlight what they’re doing as well even if they’re not what everyone thinks of as the lowest population of the community.

Why do you think people should join SOJ?

I feel like with every club, even if you are remotely interested, you should go and see what it’s about and maybe you can get drawn in with that first meeting and coming to the callout meeting you can find something you like. For example, some people like baking, some like making the letters and being behind the scenes and some people like going out and giving baked goods to the people and seeing their faces.

What’s your favorite baked good?

I like making intricate baked goods like macarons and those are really fun to make and the process is so fun. My favorite one to just eat is any type of small cake or bread with cinnamon or spice flavorings.

Jennifer Bubp, Sprinkle of Joy club sponsor 

What made you want to sponsor this club?

I love the heart of this club and that they just want to bake things because they love baking as a passion of theirs and that they want to spread that joy by giving their baked goods to charities or even here at the school to teachers.

What do people do at Sprinkle of Joy?

I think the first taste of Sprinkle of Joy is seeing the leadership. They do the packaging of the baked goods in a professional manner. If you want to go into catering, this should be a club you want to join because they think of creative ways to package and brand the baked goods and they usually write some personal notes or thank you notes so there is a personal touch in everything they deliver. They are also very intentional about what group or organization can benefit from some baked good being delivered. I think it’s just a great combination of kids using their passion skill set then learning how to promote what they are doing and finally spreading the joy throughout their community.

What was your biggest accomplishment last year?

From my end, just what I saw in the meetings was just the excitement and collaboration of all the members. And in regards to the baking, seeing kids be inspired by what one person brought in and seeing them try to recreate them maybe with different ingredients so it serves as a learning opportunity to become better bakers. 

What do you hope to improve or change this year?

This is such a well run club. I do want to give credit to the leaders and how they organize and inspire the kids to bake with a purpose. I would say maybe getting the word out to the community or nursing home or local establishments that could benefit from this and making more community connections.

Why do you think it’s important to give back?

In Carmel, we are so blessed with what we have it can become really easy to take whatever you can get  versus asking yourself you can give back to this community that gave me so much.

What’s your favorite baked good?

Oh boy, that’s a tough one. I would have to say cheesecake.