What started as an idea has gone above and beyond the expectations of many. Benson’s student run school store has quickly become a large part of Benson’s reputation.
“The school store started as an idea because one of the main projects that our students can do is create a school-based enterprise,” Senior Manager of Promotions and Marketing Trey Foose said. “Last year it was just a cage in a room selling food during advisement.”
The school store made a drastic leap from a cage to a student-run store that is open to juniors and seniors during fourth block. The store has a lot planned for this year, including their ‘OPS Proud’ project.
“Our advisor and business teacher last year, Tony Kobza, actually coordinated last year to have a huge deal going for our school store asking the district if we could do shirts for them,” Foose said. “At the beginning of the year we received a 500-shirt order for ‘OPS Proud’.”
According to Foose, the ‘OPS Proud’ project will be going on all year long. The district is giving Benson a $500 scholarship for the project, which will be used as funding.
“We want to see if the district will help us fund a new shirt press for the school to increase efficiency,” Foose said. “If we ever have to do deals for them in the future, we can speed that up for them.”
The store is working on many plans to continue to grow and improve their products and availability to better cater to the entire student body. Students are encouraged to give their product ideas to the members of the store staff.
Freshman and sophomores are restricted to the cafeteria during their lunches due to the rules that were introduced to Benson this year. This keeps the underclassmen from accessing the school store.
To counteract this inequality, Foose created an interactive survey to help better understand the needs of the school. The survey covered topics such as academy representation, store access, social media, and future merchandising.
“One of the main ways we want to involve the school is to have both students and staff take the survey,” Foose said. “This is kind of our way to show administration that we mean business.”
The store members, including Foose, are trying to come up with a plan for having the store accessible to all students.
“I would like to be able to have our store open 20 minutes before and after school,” Foose said. “I feel like it gives a short window for students to actually see the store and meet the employees.”
Being open for a short period of time after school also provides opportunities for students involved in extracurricular activities to visit the store.
“We want to see if it’s possible to approve selling sports drinks and healthy snacks for students going to practice,” Foose said.
One of the main issues with being open outside of school hours is having an advisor and students willing to be there to work it. Although half of the student body is currently unable to visit the store daily, there are other ways for all students to purchase store items if they would like to.
“The school store actually works a lot of our sporting events,” Foose said. “At football and volleyball games we are open, and we are able to sell clothing and apparel.”
One of the reasons for the stores’ success is because of the opportunities it provides for the students involved.
“It’s been really insightful,” Foose said. “Especially for our senior students taking an internship to understand how a business operates.”
Students involved in the store can order products to the store, design their products, and fully understand first-hand how a business operates.
According to Foose, any freshman interested in hands-on activities and getting involved during their high school career, the business academy is the way to go. Working at the school store gives students job experience and internship opportunities.
“Step up and take leadership even if it’s weird and even if you have never really done before,” Foose said.
For more information on the school store, follow them on Instagram @BHS_DECAStore, and on Facebook @BHSDECASTORE.