Coláiste Éamann Rís' ice-cream van aims to raise school funds

Donated van is operated by transition year students and will offer 'a genuine learning opportunity' for the Cork City school, says principal Aaron Wolfe

Vanessa Hurley and Alyssa Nagi serving students at Coláiste Eamonn Rís with the ice-cream van,  which was generously donated by Ó ’Crualaoí Butchers. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

School bells are a sound commonly associated with Coláiste Éamann Rís, but now kids are becoming accustomed to jingles of a different tone — coming from their principal’s ice-cream van.

In his role as an educator, Aaron Wolfe is expected to wear many hats. However, he never anticipated that an ice-cream man’s would be one of them. Students from the Cork City school are delighted, nonetheless, to be part of the adventure. 

It follows a generous donation of an ice-cream van from Ó ’Crualaoí Butchers, who have been supplying the school with lunches for several years.

The van, which has already been booked for communions and other events, will operate like any other ice-cream business. Run by transition year students, Mr Wolfe hopes it can generate some much needed revenue for the school.

He said: "The school is always thinking outside the box. I’m a firm believer that school should be fun. A few other schools have been buying coffee trucks, so we thought we would go one better and buy an ice-cream van with a coffee and slushy machine.

"We didn’t use any school funds to make this possible. The idea is to use it as a earning opportunity for the kids. In fourth year, they’ll go out on the road and sell ice-creams.

"At the moment, I am the one driving the van, but others can drive it too. There are people who do a double-take when they see me on the road with the van. A principal I know from a local primary school stopped me and asked what I was doing driving an ice-cream van." 

Mr Wolfe enjoys the reaction of students when arriving to school in the vehicle: “The kids find it very funny, which is great because life is miserable enough. We want to make school fun. The laugh that the children have when I drive in in the morning with the jingles on makes it hard to be miserable. 

"I am conscious that not every child likes school. What I love is seeing people doing things outside of their comfort zone and the norm. There is far more to education than sitting in a maths class.” 

Aaron Wolfe, principal of Coláiste Eamonn Rís, stated: 'This isn’t a gimmick, but rather a genuine learning opportunity for everyone involved.' Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The principal is extremely passionate about the project.

“This isn’t a gimmick, but rather a genuine learning opportunity for everyone involved,” he told the Irish Examiner. “There is so much involved. Students are learning to use the generator. We are showing them how to fix batteries and even teaching them about the maintenance and cleaning it out. 

"The kids are being trained up as baristas. I have a queue of students asking if they can work in the van, which is great because you are trying to encourage a work ethic and inspire students to be entrepreneurs.” 

He is confident the project will benefit other schools too.

He said: “We are hoping to run this as a positive behaviour strategy. If you are a teacher and you want to reward a student, we’ll bring our van down and transition year students will serve the ice-creams.”