Have you seen a girl outside Monroe Library holding a bright orange sign reading, “Homemade Ice Cream $3”?

That’s Loyola’s own entrepreneur Sam Schnetz, undecided sophomore, and for the past three weeks she has been selling home-cranked ice cream to the Loyola community.

Schnetz, from Sacramento, CA, began churning out ice cream this summer after receiving a White Mountain hand crank ice cream maker – essentially a wooden barrel – forherbirthday.

Schnetz spent the summer experimenting with flavors.

“I made about 15 to 20 flavors” ranging from basic vanilla and chocolate to more complex flavors, such as honey lavender, mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream. Schnetz stays away from preservatives, sweetens with honey and avoids eggs.

“I even tried fruit – I made strawberry ice cream with honey and real strawberries,” Schnetz said.

After struggling to find a job, Schnetz decided to start selling her ice cream.

Schnetz has tentatively moved her selling times to Wednesday and Friday afternoons, instead of Tuesday and Thursday during the window due to competition (free food) and lack of passing customers.

She hopes to have a set selling schedule and social media in the near future.

Schnetz has a process: she makes two batches of ice cream each weekend, first making the all- natural mixture and letting it sit in the fridge overnight. She then hand cranks the cooled mixture into ice cream and packages it into 8 oz Styrofoam bowls with lids.

Inspired by New Orleans classics such as Lucky Dog and Roman Candy, Schnetz’s homemade ice cream has been on sale outside of the library for the past 3 weeks.

Overall, the reaction to the homemade ice cream has been positive. “I’ve gotten some weird looks, but a lot of people have been really excited,” Schnetz said.

“Sam brought up making homemade ice cream in our creative writing class,” Andrew Ketcham, English writing sophomore, said. “My friend bought some and I tried a little. I was blown away by how good it was.”

“I had fluffanutter and it was absolutely delicious,” Caroline Weachter, environmental science sophomore, said. “Last week I had chocolate brownie and it had brownie pieces in it.”

The texture “is icy and when it’s melting, it’s creamy and delicious,” Weachter said.

Schnetz’s entrepreneurial spirit “shows how Loyola students are creative and bring diverse talents to the

community,” Ketcham said.

Lauren Irwin can be reached at [email protected]