November 29 saw the opening day of Mane Street Market, Clear Springs’ new school store. However, the future of Mane Street Market holds more than just snacks and a couple of notebooks.

Upperclassmen might remember the DECA cart from years past that sold snacks, drinks and school supplies. The cart has upgraded into an actual space (shared with JSC) being used for the store.

“We just wanted somewhere where people could come and have more of a variety of options than just the lunch lines,” Maggie Elwood (12), one of the co-op students working the store, said.

Co-op students will be working it this year, but there are big plans for the Mane Street Market. “Next year, the plan is for there to be a class dedicated to the school store. It will be a double-blocked class,” Mrs. Amber Lynn, Business CTE teacher, said.

“My co-op students are running the store this year where they design apparel, so we can have spirit items in the store. They go through everything and price everything, so they can turn a profit. All of the proceeds will go back into the store or the school in general,” she said.

Clear Springs will join both Clear Falls and Clear Brook in the opening of school stores this year. The idea of a student store specializing in snacks, spirit items, and supplies is a recent trend for CCISD that is being received well by students.

“It’s nice to give students a variety of options to choose from,” Lynn said. “The plan is for us to use the money we make from the school store now to purchase heat presses for students to design spirit shirts. We will then make the shirts and sell them.”

As public school finance guidelines evolve, so does the organization of the school store. Requirements state that the store needs to be run by a class, not an organization; thus the change from DECA. Next year, the store must be run by a class, which is the creation of the Mane Street Market class.

Excited about the future of the class, Lynn said, “The Mane Street Market class will be a good outlet to provide services for not only the students, but for the student workers to get on-campus work experience.”

For students interested in entrepreneurship, running a business, or just wanting to help run the school store, that will be an opportunity for next year.

“I think this is the plan for a lot of the CTE classes: to provide a true, hands-on experience. I think this is the direction that will bring the Business and Marketing sector of CTE to the next level,” Lynn said.