The NHS Small Business Management class has been earning profits from their t-shirt sales all year round, and the money was put to use on Apr. 9. Business teacher Tonya Koehler and the four students present in the class took their profits to Dillons in the form of gift cards and handed them out to 10 lucky citizens. According to Koehler, the idea came from another school that also has a student-run business.

“I attended a workshop several years ago and they gave ideas of different things the students can do with the money that is made. I gave this year’s students the idea, and they liked it,” Koehler said. “Small Business Management is responsible for stocking the concession stands for the high school all year. The class is more of a job for students.” 

The t-shirt business, which is almost entirely student-run, is where the money came from that was given to citizens at Dillons. Koehler added that next school year, she will get new equipment for the t-shirts, which will make the process a lot easier. Senior Griffin Davis is one of the four students in Koehler’s class, and says that he thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to give back to the community and the overall atmosphere of the class. 

“One of my favorite parts about Small Business is being able to make a bunch of different designs for t-shirts. I also like doing concessions because we get to go to Fischer Field for a lot of class periods,” Davis said. “We were kind of at a stand still when it came to doing work because there were not any concessions going on so we decided to give back to the community. With the hard times of the pandemic going on, we know that it has been really hard on a lot of families so we felt the need to help them get some groceries.”

According to Koehler, the citizens receiving money were ecstatic and many did not believe that they were just getting gift cards for free. Senior Medora LaRose also took part in the activity and says she has loved being a part of Koehler’s class this year. 

“Small Business always keeps you on edge,” LaRose said. “We use money to buy t-shirts for the class and then usually at the end of the year the leftover cash is used for a small trip, but this year it is different. Since our class had a lot of money, and since we were not going on a trip, we thought that it would be the best idea to give back because of everything happening with COVID-19. I think it is a really good idea to help the less fortunate, rather than always spoiling ourselves.”

According to Davis, all of the students in the class were interested in giving money to citizens and all four liked the activity and the chance to positively contribute to the community during the unprecedented times faced during the pandemic. 

“A lot of the people were really confused at first and thought that they had to do something to get the money but once they realized that it was serious they were really grateful for the gift. There were also a couple people that denied the gift because they knew that they were fine without the money and that the money could have gone to someone else that actually needed the money to help them out,” Davis said. “We all thought that it was a great idea because we have always liked giving back to people and you never know how much the little amount of money can help someone.”