Milton Hershey School Students Open Spartan Spirit Store

Milton Hershey School students are mixing their entrepreneurial spirit with school spirit through the new student store. The Student Government Association (SGA) recently opened the Spartan Spirit Store on the MHS campus. The project will help members of the school community show their support for MHS.

The Spartan Spirit Store offers t-shirts, hoodies, pants, coasters, stickers, magnets, and more. Students designed everything, even the store.

The MHS Career and Technical Education (CTE) program provides hands-on learning opportunities through 12 career pathways. Engineering and Design students created plans to transform the former closet into a retail shop. Students in the Construction/Carpentry pathway made those plans a reality by laying the floor, installing shelves, and more. Law, Public Safety and Security students will be installing cameras.

“It has been a lot of work. The kids have been amazing, they put in a lot of time and work,” Marianne Cutugno, SGA advisor, said.

Last year, SGA held several pop-up sales at special events. Students and teachers responded positively to their efforts, and work began on planning a permanent store.

Chris Koehler, a senior in the Business Education pathway, said the biggest lesson he learned from the process was how to properly price items to meet goals. Additionally, Chris now aims to be more patient when he is a customer himself.

“Sometimes there is chaos going on and you don’t need to add to that chaos,” he said.

Stacey Vo, MHS junior, said the students spoke with teachers, staff, and students to determine which items would sell best.

“This project helped me gain more interpersonal skills by talking to adults during the planning process and interacting with customers while working as a cashier,” Vo said.

The Spartan Spirit Store is open only to the MHS community, but others will soon be able to support the students’ efforts. The SGA will soon launch a mobile gear trailer that will be parked at the Cocoa Bean Game on Sept. 23.