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Campus Closet gives students hands-on learning experience

News Photo by Julie Goldberg Left to right, Brad Crevier, Brooke Gersewski, Shelby Seaver, Jordan Zielaskowski and Morgan LaLonde have been working hard building Alpena High School’s Campus Closet. Working at the store helps the students build their people skills, along with customer service skills.

ALPENA — Alpena High School’s Campus Closet is an opportunity for students to learn how to work in a retail store. The store is one where students, parents, and members of the community can buy Alpena Wildcat gear.

Besides clothing for the adults, there are items for pets, children’s clothing, Christmas ornaments, lanyards, and other items that people will need. The students learn how to put items into the system and what to do if someone returns a product.

“I think we pride ourselves with being one of the best school stores in the state of Michigan because I believe that our variety and what we offer here is a much higher level than the traditional school store that sells pencils and T-shirts,” marketing instructor Melissa Timmreck said. “We want to be a place that community members can come in and visit. This is a great learning environment because this becomes our lab in the marketing program.”

Something new at the store is a Wildcat wish list, where students can come in and fill out a piece of paper with what they want for Christmas. Parents can then go into the store and get the items that their student wants.

“We try to make a good connection with the students here and also with the community,” senior Jordan Zielaskowski said. “We have the extended hours where the students can come in, which is out of our school time, so they don’t have to try and come during the lunch hour or before school.”

Zielaskowski is the store manager and oversees the departments and what everyone does. She also helps with ordering clothing, drinks, flowers, and balloons. She said being the store manager has helped her leadership skills. Working at the store helps the students with teamwork, working collaboratively as a group, and problem-solving.

The store holds Wildcat Wednesday and Fun Fridays, where students buy sugary pop and candy since that is not an everyday thing.

Junior Brad Crevier and senior Shelby Seaver both work in promotions and retail while junior Brooke Gersewski helps people order balloons and flowers.

“If someone needs help, I’m the one helping them,” Gersewski said. “I also do phone orders with customers that call and order to send their student flowers and balloons. This helps me learn to deal with people and deal with how to run a store.”

The students said the store is similar to what a college bookstore is like, but focused more on merchandise and on Alpena Wildcat gear.

Being a part of Campus Closet helps the students with their people skills since they talk to people every day. Crevier said it helps him work in a retail store setting and Zielaskowski said it allows them to practice their skills with people and customer service.

Any profits the store receives goes back to the program so it can make system improvements and update computers.

“Some profits actually paid for the charter bus transportation when we went to the Sports and Entertainment Conference in Detroit,” Timmreck said. “The money goes back into the program and to benefit the students.”

Zielaskowski is the store manager while seniors Morgan LaLonde and Courtney Nunneley, Seaver, Crevier, and Gersewski are the student managers.

Campus Closet has extended hours for the holiday season Thursday and Dec. 21 where the store will be open from 2:30-5:30 p.m. There is a community door in the back oval at the high school where people can enter the store.

For more information, contact Campus Closet at 358-5256 or check its Facebook page at Alpena High School Campus Closet.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.

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