This semester, 13 students in assistant professor Dennis Kopf’s advanced marketing course will use their persuasion and sales skills to reach out to children at home and afar.

Each semester, Kopf assigns a group project in which students can use their sales skills to help an organization in need.

This semester, the class will sell Sister Maria Rosa Coffee bags to benefit the UW-Whitewater Children’s Center and the Sociedad Amigos de los Ninos orphanage in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The Children’s Center will receive $3 from each bag sold, while the orphanage will receive $2.

“Doing these kinds of projects help the students to utilize their sales skills in a way that is helpful,” Kopf said. “I teach them the art of persuasion and let them use this powerful skill for good.”

Kopf met the CEO of the Sister Maria Rosa Coffee Co. while at the Mitchell Park Conservatory in Milwaukee. After sampling the coffee and learning about the company, he brought the idea to the students in his class and they agreed to sell the product.

Sister Maria Rosa Coffee Co. is a student-run company based out of Marquette University.

According to the company’s website, Sister Maria Rosa, who was an orphan, has dedicated more than 40 years to “creating a safe and special place for orphaned and neglected children.”

During the past four decades, Sister Maria Rosa has taken care of more than 40,000 orphans.

Senior Bill Krueger, who is in the class, said it is exciting to sell a product that so many university students turn to.

“We were excited to be selling the coffee,” Krueger said. “Everyone drinks coffee and as the semester gets harder, more people need it.”

Members of the class said they feel personally connected to the project because the children at the Children’s Center are those of faculty, staff and students at UW-Whitewater.

“We want to make the playground bigger so the kids can interact with it,” Krueger said. “Recess is a lot of kid’s favorite time and we want them to enjoy it.”

The plan for the new playground includes creating a hill for the children to roll down, a stage and other traditional playground elements.

The coffee will be sold until the end of the semester. Although the class does not have a set number goal for selling the coffee, they said they hope it will be significant.

“This project is a triple win for the students,” Apfelbeck said. “We get to learn and develop our sales skills, better the playground at the Children’s Center, and donate to orphans in Honduras who are in need of our help.”