DIS Store teaches financial skills

Posted on: Mar 19, 2021

A new business endeavor at Delano Intermediate School helps students develop financial literacy while simultaneously dealing with the hands-on challenges of production, marketing and distribution.

This week marks the opening of the DIS Store after months of preparation and lots of learning on the part of students who have met after school since November to prepare.

“We’ve been creating products and just watching everything go from nothing to something amazing,” said fourth-grader Meredith van Bergen, one of the store’s website designers.

In all, about 20 students are running the operation as members of various departments under the guidance of DIS media center specialist Gwen Egly and volunteer advisor Wendy Gilmer. 

The store includes both mobile retail display cases and a website to showcase the products, which include 3D-printed Minnesota magnet decorations in purple and gold, laser-engraved Tiger signs, mugs and pencil holders bearing custom logos or pictures made with a Cricut machine, and more. 

Delano’s business community has aided in the effort, with Trelleborg donating two 3D printers for production purposes, Alex Roeser’s American Family Insurance donating the two mobile display cases, and additional assistance from the Delano Loretto Area United Way and the Junior Achievement program.

Lessons in finance and tech
Participation in the store gives students a robust picture of finance and commerce, beginning with the Junior Achievement financial literacy curriculum taught by Gilmer, a former bank officer.

“Personally, I am really thrilled because I’ve been doing this type of curriculum in the schools for years, and this is a sustainable way to embed it in an experience that enhances the learning,” Gilmer said.

Students have also had much to learn on the technological side. They have constructed a store website through Google Sites. They have created items in the Tinkercad 3D design program for creation by the 3D printers, and have learned how to run the Cricut machine for custom logos, labels and pictures.

Fifth-grader Landon Lundquist said the tech aspect was what first drew him to participate, but he has enjoyed the full process.

“Originally I just wanted to come in here and work with some cool technology, maybe meet some new friends, but I’ve sort of realized that it’s really fun learning about finance and how to run a business,” he said. “Working on the website, especially, has been a really fun thing that I didn’t think I would be doing in the first place.”

“We get to learn the basic building blocks of a business, and some tips to be a good entrepreneur,” said fourth-grader Theodore Stewart, who works in the marketing department. “You need to be very organized. The first day we said we needed a good working environment, and we needed to know who our target audience is.”

The target audience is broad, with the physical retail store set up to serve students, and the website geared toward parents, grandparents and community members.

Adversity
Egly said the store had been an idea of hers for a number of years, but teaming up with Gilmer created the framework for a comprehensive program and helped bring the seed to fruition.

Gilmer had taught the Junior Achievement curriculum to students during Zero Hour late-start Wednesdays in previous years, but COVID-19 resulted in schedule alterations and the elimination of Zero Hour this year. In its place, the after-school store effort provided a new opportunity with a hands-on component – at least when circumstances allowed. Students had only gathered for two meetings in November before a learning model change sent all DIS students to distance learning on Dec. 2. 

“That was really tough,” said van Bergen. “In the beginning I started making a website and someone else started making a website, so afterward we had to merge websites.”

While efforts were made to continue online, it wasn’t until students were back in person in January that the preparations truly shifted into gear. Together again, students quickly learned to work in teams to settle the details.

“We had some disagreements with products that we want to put on the website, and a couple of small things like naming and what the pricing was going to be,” said Lundquist. “There weren’t any big conflicts, but there were things we had to work out.”

Other challenges included using the technology and navigating legal issues.

“We’ve run into some dead ends making the website,” said Stewart. “We have had to leap over a lot of obstacles, a lot of tech stuff, and also we had to cut some ideas because of copyrights. So basically, tech and ownership have been the main things.”

The big picture
Egly said that the overarching goal of the store goes beyond making a profit. In fact, the plan is to recoup startup costs, ensure the store’s future viability, and then begin giving back to causes of the students’ choosing.

“Big picture, we’re looking for financial literacy. That’s where Wendy’s strength is,” said Egly. “And also community. We want them to see the dependence of various departments within the organization and how important it is to work together as a team. Finally, we want to emphasize kindness and giving back once you achieve a certain level of success. We’ve been helped to get started, and we want to instill that philosophy of giving back.”

The students have been enthusiastic, and Egly said some have even asked if they could keep working on the store over the summer months.

“I think the best part has been just watching the kids as their excitement builds with the successes they’ve seen,” Egly said. “There are some trials and tribulations with making something on a 3D printer actually work – come out the right size with the right the colors and variations. The kids have been very resilient. There have never been any major meltdowns or frustrations. They just say, ‘OK, well, we have to go back and fix this.’ I think that’s the biggest and most fun thing about it, just seeing them be successful after some failures.”

Gilmer echoed Egly’s theme of student resiliency in the midst of challenges.

“Things happen, and it’s exactly like business,” she said. “You have to pivot and figure it out, and the kids have really latched on to that.”

For their part, the students were excited to get started as in-person sales to their classmates commenced this week. 

“I just want people to know that we’ve worked really hard on this,” said Lundquist. “And we’ve had fun doing it.”

* The DIS Store website is now available..

 

Post Categories: Intermediate School