You have a camping trip coming up, you realize you’re missing something, and you don’t have time to go shopping for it. Lucky for you it’s Tuesday, and the student store — for the first time actually operated by students — is now open for business.
Due to the initiative of Administrative Assistant Ashely Kocijan, seniors are now in charge of running the Student Store at the Upper Campus, selling everything from snacks to spirt wear to their fellow students.
Mrs. Kocijan came up with the idea after noticing the seniors’ struggles with organizing the Senior Snack shop.
“In the last two years, I noticed that the senior snack shop faced challenges in finding a stable home base, promoting equity, and encouraging involvement,” Mrs. Kocijan said. “So whenever I was up in the Student Store, I would think, ‘Gosh, this feels like a missed opportunity for the kids.’ “
Thanks to her idea, the seniors now operate the Student Store two days a week. In addition to operating the Senior Snack Shop out of the second-story store, they also help fellow OVS students find items they need for daily academics or even for outdoor excursions.
Senior class representatives Jessi Ponce Sanchez and Shun Tateno have made the space a place where students feel comfortable and positive.
Though new to the representative position, Jessi said she hopes the experience at the student store will help her peers gain knowledge they can apply outside of high school.
“I think it will give our class valuable experience because I know a lot of people are going into business or marketing,” Jessi said. “And I think it will grow the senior class, in that it will hopefully help us understand what it means to work hard.”
In an effort to involve all seniors in the student store, Shun and Jessi created a schedule to ensure each senior has the opportunity to contribute.
Senior Haruna Watanabe is excited to do her first shift at the student store because, while she’s there, she gets to socialize with peers she might not usually have time to talk to.
“With the student store, the senior class will be able to earn money that we’ll be able to use for our senior gift,” Haruna said. “It also allows us to talk to other students we don’t get to interact with.”