The Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Harrisonburg sits on the edge of a shopping plaza, in a squat, un-tropical building of brick and concrete. Its menu consists largely of alliterative drinks that revolve around a pan-Caribbean theme – Kiwi Quencher, Mango Magic and so forth.

The Cafe is the kind of place that captures the hearts of high schoolers. The drinks are cheap and sugary, the employment opportunities plentiful, even for those with no prior work experience and the chain’s social media accounts serve up photos of brightly-colored menu items on the daily, ripe for resharing.

Earlier this month, a post appeared on the Facebook page for the local Tropical Smoothie, appealing directly to HHS students. “Tropical would like to help you kick off summer with a chance to WIN FREE SMOOTHIES FOR THE ENTIRE SCHOOL,” it reads. “If students, staff and the community shares this post at least 10,000 times by May 31st, 2018, every student and staff will receive (1) FREE 12oz. SUNSHINE SMOOTHIE ON June 6th.”

Thus far, the post has garnered 4,384 shares. With the deadline fast approaching, some students have begun to question whether Tropical Smoothie purposely set the shares required at 10,000, equivalent to one-fifth of Harrisonburg’s population, knowing that, more than likely, the community wouldn’t be able to fill the quota.

“They’re getting free publicity, with everyone sharing [the post] with everyone else, and they won’t have to give us smoothies,” senior Deidrah Velker said. “Tropical Smoothie set the bar so high. We’re not going to make it.”

Freshman Kati Brueckner expressed a similar sentiment, dismissing the challenge as a “marketing ploy.”

“They want 10,000 shares for their business,” Brueckner said. “It’s a really good way to get yourself out there. If the people here get smoothies and like the smoothies, they’ll go back. I don’t think it’s a total act of kindness from deep inside their hearts… If it stays at the rate it’s going, I don’t think hitting 10,000 is plausible,” Brueckner said. “If it gains a bit more traction, with more advertising in the school and the community, there’s a possibility.”

From a mathematical standpoint, Brueckner’s analysis holds up. The current figure, 4,384 shares, arrives well past the halfway point for the month of May, with over half the required shares left to go. Assuming the post continues to attract a roughly static number of shares each day, which does not account for fluctuations in the post’s popularity but greatly simplifies the arithmetic, the total shares will clock in at 6,400 by the May 30 deadline. Unless the smoothie-hopefuls pick up the pace, they could end up empty-handed.

Audrey Short of the HHS Mathematics Department still sees a path forward, however.

“If every person that’s already shared it got two more people to share it, and those people were unique, not mutual friends, it could pan out,” she said. “It’s mathematically possible. If everyone tagged an aunt an uncle, we’d have no problem.”

It seems that Tropical Smoothie does not care about how the shares are obtained, as long as they keep rolling in. In the comment section of the post, junior Aerious Kubin wrote, “Ya boi shared this 200 times, no guilt,” to which T.S. replied, with apparent enthusiasm, “You go girl!!” On one hand, Kubin could have been exaggerating for comedic effect, and on the other, he could have enlisted the help of a website where users can purchase Facebook shares. Whatever the case, his comment certainly proves he’s serious about those free smoothies.

Tropical Smoothie will announce the results of the challenge on June 1.