Xavier Mom Delivers Sweet Treats to Students
Sep 19, 2022
To some, Jen Schertz is simply known as “The Cookie Mom.”
Since October 2020, Xavier parents have reached out to Schertz—usually through Facebook—and asked her to prepare a box of her assorted homemade cookies for their students. Schertz happily obliges. She takes all requests from parents then bakes cookies to order from her Cuyahoga Falls home.
After the cookie baking is complete, Schertz loads up her blue Honda CRV with dozens of cookie boxes and makes the 3.5-hour drive to Xavier. There, she has personally delivered thousands of her gourmet cookies to often-surprised Xavier students, much to the delight of their parents.
“It’s a marathon for a one-women operation like mine, but without a doubt, it’s a labor of love,” Schertz said. “This is one of the very best things I get to do—and I truly love what I do—because it’s for the Xavier Family.”
Schertz is the owner of Jen’s Cookie Craft, a small bakery business she opened in 2019. She started baking and delivering cookies to Xavier students after other parents responded to a post she made on Facebook offering the service. Seven cookie trips and two years later, Schertz has baked more than 5,000 cookies at the request of parents looking to send an affectionate confection to their sons or daughters at Xavier.
Three years ago, Schertz never would have envisioned her meteoric rise to Cookie Mom status.
Far from it. Schertz always saw baking as a hobby. Her grandmother enjoyed baking and so did her mother. While her cookies were always popular among family friends during the holidays, she never considered selling them, until she decided to move to freelance work and a schedule that would allow her more time for baking. It was around that time her stepson came to Xavier.
Schertz and her husband, Matt, moved their son Alex into Kuhlman Hall during his sophomore year. She baked some cookies for Alex and invited him to share them with his roommates.
The cookies were an instant hit.
“I shared them with all of my friends and they were like, ‘These are the best cookies I’ve ever had’,” Alex said. “Some of the guys even asked if she could bring cookies for them next time.”
A few days before she baked the cookies for Alex, Jen took a picture of her treats and posted them on the Xavier Parents Facebook Page. She had some fresh cookies left over from the batch she made for her stepson, so she extended the cookie delivery invitation to other Xavier parents. Parents took notice and in short order, Jen had cookie delivery orders to prepare for her next trip to Xavier. She made her first official trip as Cookie Mom a few months later.
Seeing the happiness her cookies brought to students and their parents during that first delivery gave Jen the inspiration to continue those cookie trips to campus, which soon became an important part of her budding cookie business.
“This truly does come from the heart,” Jen said. “I’ve had parents tell me that the cookies are a great icebreaker to help their kids connect with their roommates and get to know their suitemates better. Parents who are out of state especially seem to appreciate the chance to send their kids something homemade and personal.”
Jen estimates she has baked between 450 and 500 dozen cookies over seven cookie delivery trips. She tries to plan 3-4 trips each year around times when students may need a little extra love and encouragement: after move-in, during winter, around midterms and before finals.
As for the cookies themselves, Jen sells cookie boxes by the dozen and offers an assortment of flavors including chocolate chip, buttercream-iced sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, oatmeal raisin and chocolate mint, among others. She offers parents some ability to customize cookie orders; she has even baked birthday cookies for students who may be celebrating that month.
While Jen avoids using peanut butter or nuts in her cookies for allergy concerns, there is plenty of love baked into every batch. In true Cookie Mom fashion, Jen’s cookie deliveries to students may include a simple word of encouragement, advice or a hug—anything to let them know that someone is thinking about them.
Jen arranges cookie distribution in residence hall parking lots and gives students at least two one-hour windows to pick up the cookies that their parents purchased for them. In the case that a student does not pick up their order, Jen donates the leftover cookies to local police departments.
“Over the years, it’s been so great to see the students who return over and over, and to develop that little bit of relationship with them and their parents,” Jen said. “More than anything, it has helped me feel like I’m an active part of the Xavier community.”
Chike Erokwu
Senior Content Producer
Xavier University Office of Marketing and Communications
Editor’s note: Jen’s Cookie Craft is not sponsored by or affiliated with Xavier University. For inquiries or questions, visit Jen’s Cookie Craft Facebook page or contact Jen Schertz directly.