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Agawam — Entrepreneurship students at Agawam High School recently put a new twist on what was once a school staple. It’s a school store.
Instead of reopening physical stores, students created an online store to allow students and the general public to purchase Agawam-themed apparel. This elective course is intended to give students experience in how to run a business.
Recently, students realized there was a market to sell to the general public, as access to brownie merchandise was limited to students who play sports.
According to Giovanni “Gio” Russo, who teaches the course, the virtual store allows Agawam apparel to reach a wide variety of people, from grandparents, parents and relatives to “loyal Agawam alumni” and others who support the school. You can sell to people.
“Reviving the school shop is great.It is also a good way to show pride for our school and our town,” said new student Dawood Atanane.
“It’s been a really long time since we had a school store, so recreating it for students and the public is a great idea,” added new student Daniel Said.
The school had a small store until 2013, Russo said. “The idea of the virtual store is to revive this tradition and give students access to apparel that proudly represents their school.”
“The goal of this store is to cover the costs of starting a business, creating contacts, talking to various vendors, creating and purchasing inventory, selling merchandise, packing and shipping, and other related matters. It’s about showing students that it’s about running a business,” Giovanni said.
He added that students found the virtual store to be a great way to connect the school to the community.
“They are the generation that relies on social media for information and content,” says Giovanni. “They felt the best way to get the word out was to virtualize it and post it online.”
Senior student Ben Britton said the students shared ideas about items they’d like to see in the store.
“It’s our idea. We came up with it all,” he said. “Many of our customers are other students and we feel what they want.”
A drawback of online stores is that customers cannot feel the materials or grasp how sizes work. We also talked about holding a store.
The apparel uses Agawam High School’s Capital A Athletics logo, along with a mix of orange and brown that Russo said “pops and goes well” on the clothing. Items include fleece jogging pants, cotton long-sleeved shirts, hooded sweatshirts, his cotton T-shirts, and the “New Era Sideline Beanie” hat.
“We wanted our apparel to represent our city, not just our schools and sports teams. The target audience is people who live in Agawam and are dyed brown and orange.
Students contacted the district’s social media staff to promote the store on Twitter, Facebook and other sites. They also added a link to the store on the school’s homepage and created handmade signs and flyers to display throughout the school to promote the store to students and staff.
In another nod to the technology, the posters and flyers also included QR codes, allowing students and anyone with a smartphone to instantly get a link by pointing their phone camera at the code. A copy of the QR-equipped flyer is also available on the school’s outdoor electronic bulletin board.
“The QR code makes it easier and faster to access the store without having to type the entire link,” says Russo. “The rumors are sure to spread and the stories are real.”
Quinn Donohue said having a virtual store is “really cool.”
“We can bring Agawam closer together as a community,” said a senior, adding that seeing people in the community wearing Agawam merchandise “represents that people are supporting your school.” I am delighted. It shows that we are all on the same team.”
With no existing apparel, the students designed and sold new apparel. After a small group of items were created and designed, the entire class gathered to edit the designs.
“We critiqued the design, consulted each other, voted on the design and edited it again,” says Russo.
“Students do anything.
The store will be ‘going live’ at the end of November and will be open until January 8th. Students then report and discuss how to run the store 24 hours a day. All apparel is shipped to the high school after the store closes, so customers can pick up their orders.
Another store, run by students taking the course in the second semester, will open this spring and sell a new line of clothing, Russo said.
Russo said the website isn’t run by the school, so students can’t see sales figures. However, based on conversations with staff and students, hoodies and long-sleeved shirts seem to be the most popular items, he said.
“Everybody wants to buy a hoodie and long sleeves. The hoodie is casual and doesn’t emphasize the logo, but the long sleeve is unique because it puts the logo on the front and the zip code on the back is unique,” he said. explained.
Fallline garments are now produced by outside vendors. Proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase heat presses, allowing students to make products at school. you will have the opportunity to see
Once students have the ability to create products, they collaborate with web design and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) classes. Create a flyer.
“The entrepreneurial class not only makes the apparel, but also packs and ships it. They’re responsible for running the business,” Russo said.
The store is meant to be profitable, but it’s more important for students to understand what it takes to run a business and learn the ins and outs, he said.
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