As the world slowly starts to recover from the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is becoming blaringly obvious: school spirit and participation is sorely lacking, especially here in the school. With participation in athletics and different clubs and activities hitting all-time lows, there is one solution that could fix it: a new school store.
The current school store is in a small area in the commons, closer in size to a closet than an actual store. Because of this, many students aren’t even aware that the store exists. There’s so much potential for a school store here, but because of its location and lack of promotion, it’s like it doesn’t exist.
According to SportingU.com, a sports gear company, having a school store where students can purchase gear can increase attendance and participation in extracurricular activities, improve field trip safety and help represent the school in the community.
Other schools like Benson, Millard South and Burke have fully functioning school stores that operate during school hours. Their stores even have snacks that kids can buy before and after school if they are hungry.
Even if it can’t change location, the school store can be given a face lift. Redo the outside of the store to make it more obvious and encourage students to stop in and buy something. Although the space is small, redo the inside so all the gear is on display and students can actually see what their options are.
The store could be run by a club like DECA that has a school-based enterprise competition, and it would give the students more experience in that category, while promoting the store better among students.
There are plenty of options on how to improve the school store, but at the very least, it needs to be promoted more so students are more encouraged to stop in and buy something.