For many students at Park, the school “STORiole” is known for selling snacks, beverages and merchandise at lunch. What many students don’t know is that behind the scenes of “STORiole” are students who run a business. DECA has grown to be an important course and one of the only student-run classes in the high school. They not only operate in the lunchroom, but they also have a mobile “pop-up shop” that’s at many sports events where they sell the same items. Every student in the class plays many different roles in helping run the business.
DECA advisor and school store teacher Abigail Lugo said the school store is a great way to teach students what it’s like to be in a real business from hands-on learning. According to her, it beats learning from a textbook.
“(STOriole) provides a really important element of lab learning,” Lugo said. “It’s one of the only classes that students get to learn from doing something through experience, rather than learning out of a book or from just verbal material from a teacher.”
Junior school store manager Zach Stillman said the class does a good job of teaching the different aspects of running a business, and that can benefit students in the future.
“There is a bunch of learning opportunities. You get to see every part of a business, and I can get an experience that you wouldn’t be able to elsewhere,” Stillman said. “You can see if this is something you want to do in college and going forward. It gives you a unique perspective on all different types of business.”
In addition to the fact that the school store is big on teaching, students how to run a business. Senior school store manager Jason Kraft said it gives students more choice in what they eat and drink at lunch.
“(STORiole) benefits customers because they have a larger selection of snacks and drinks to choose from. (Students) have a lot of stuff to choose from.”
Stillman said he thinks the school store is important to have because it promotes Park Pride while teaching students valuable skills.
“(STORiole is important for two main reasons). One, STORiole will bring a lot of Park Pride and unite our community. We get a lot of spirit wear, and so we can evolve and create being a role model for the community,” Stillman said. “The second thing is I think it’s a cool class that you can take. You get a lot of good business experience that in no other class you can get. That’s the two ways why I love the STORiole.”
Kraft said even though the school store is great, there are always ways it can be better by selling more applicable items and also having harder-working students.
“The STORiole can be better with improvement from its employees and better selections of products for the customers.”
Lugo said this class is great for students to take because of all the life skills it teaches that you can carry on with you, and the connections you can make with others through the class.
“For a lot of my students, it allows (them) to get experience on how to run a business and how to manage people. I’ve seen a few of the (former) students go out and start their businesses, and they say that they got the confidence from practicing here in school and then being able to do it on their own. So that’s one of the things (that makes the class great),” Lugo said. “It also brings together a unique group of kids that are interested in business that might not always travel in the same social circles. So, it also opens the doors to new connections and friendships and brings people together.”