Since April 2015, students have been patiently (or impatiently) awaiting progress on the Berkey Creamery ice cream truck project discussed in current UPUA President Emily McDonald’s first presidential report. Penn State’s Finance 301H class — a course on corporation finance — is tackling the project, which McDonald described as a “very real possibility” in her report.

In August, then-Facilities chair Adam Terragnoli reported to UPUA that the Creamery ice cream truck is a “beast of a project,” but the committee was planning the necessary bench-marking and meetings for the project. Additionally, Terragnoli stated that Penn State’s administration supports the initiative, specifically with a member of the University’s food department.

At the first UPUA meeting of the Spring 2016 semester, current Facilities chair Alex Shockley updated the assembly on the movement of the project. In discussions with UPUA President Emily McDonald and Vice President Terry Ford, the Facilities committee determined that it would be beneficial to incorporate student involvement with UPUA support for the project.

From there, UPUA reached out to Finance 301H professor Greg Pierce. As a major portion of the course, students choose a new or upcoming company and are then responsible for creating what is essentially a strategic business plan for the company. For a past version of the class, students created a business plan for prominent food delivery service OrderUp.

During the first three weeks of the semester, the project group focused on the ice cream truck’s potential consumers, owners, and competitive market. They also created a projected five-year income statement, and would like to make the ice cream truck “more than just a truck that sells ice cream,” according to Shockley.

The Finance 301H team reported that, “When the UPUA approached our class about creating a business plan for the Penn State Ice Cream Truck, we could tell that the organization had a vision for the project and was committed to turning it into a reality… In the hopes of eventually presenting our plan to University administration for approval, we have gone a step further and built a projected income statement for the first five years of operation. The Penn State Ice Cream Truck is on its way to becoming the newest Penn State tradition.”

While there is no set date in place for the truck’s launch, a travelling arm of the Creamery around campus may be a reality sooner than later.