Moon Area DECA students test marketing skills with school store
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Josh Scott, right, 14, a freshman of Moon Area High School, purchases candy from Lindsay Ottaviani, 16, a junior at the school's store, on Nov. 30. Students operate the store as part of their class.
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In their old high school building about 20 years ago, Moon Area marketing students operated a small school store for a few years in a small closet in the cafeteria.
This school year, the students have a larger space of their own where they learn about inventory, stock, merchandising, ticketing items and even how to operate a cash register.
A brand new school store is one of many benefits in the newly constructed high school, which opened about a year ago. This is their first full year in the $76 million school.
Tiger Den, which opened at the start of the school year, sells a variety of items, such as school supplies, school-themed clothing, hats, gum, coffee mugs, umbrellas and even bobble heads of the tiger mascot, at a 10 percent markup.
Soon after opening their doors, the student volunteers used marketing research and conducted a survey to discover what items their classmates want to buy. Students overwhelmingly responded with a need for lip balm, so student proprietors ordered the item and watched it fly off the shelf.
Recently, the students have offered a consignment of tiger-themed jewelry.
The group also plans to collaborate on commercials for Tiger Den with students in the new television studio class.
Junior Lindsay Ottaviani, a marketing student and one of the volunteers who operates the store during the lunch period, said she has learned a lot about marketing. Before volunteering, she had not known how to use a cash register.
Teacher Betty Pander has been with the district for 28 years.
She said she had a short stint with keyboarding classes, but has spent the majority of her tenure teaching marketing courses. She volunteers her time, along with business department teachers Jill Wilson and MaryAnne Stewart.
"My reward is the relationships I build with my students," said Mrs. Pander, who adds that these relationships go beyond high school.
Student volunteers are members of the Distributive Education Clubs of America, which was founded in 1946, to prepare high school and college students across the globe for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. The high school division includes 15,000 members in 5,000 schools.
"DECA is a lifestyle. It's a great way to have the students apply what they learn in class," said Mrs. Pander, who sponsors the group.
"It's reciprocal. I get to know them better and they get to know me better."
Proceeds from the store are generally put back in to the store account to be used in the purchase of new stock, said Mrs. Pander, who adds that there is a "small profit margin."
Some of the money could be used to defray travelling costs for DECA associated events, she said.
Moon's DECA group also performs a variety of community service projects such as Mile of Cans and Relay for Life.
Annually, they purchase gifts for those less fortunate during the holidays.
In December, approximately 85 Moon Area students competed in written tests and verbal problem solving against other local DECA members in subjects including apparel, business administration, free enterprise, marketing, finance and travel and tourism.
Winners from this level will compete with other Pennsylvania students Feb. 22-24 in Hershey.
Lindsay is in her third year as a member of DECA. She is looking forward to the Quiz Bowl, a supplemental event offered to those competing at the state level, which encompasses all levels of marketing knowledge.
She will be competing with fellow DECA members Matthew McCready, Stefani Monteleone and Zach Rich.
Moon Area is sending 46 students to the state level event, with fewer than 10 of those expected to progress to the international level in Salt Lake City in April.
First Published January 12, 2012 12:00 am
