Senior Ayla Ahmetovic is a leader.
From being class president to the manager of a business, Ayla is one of FHC’s most prominent figureheads. In addition to being a leader, Ayla is also a volunteer, a jobholder, and an organized, frenzied baker.
“I’m the senior class president, and I volunteer a lot for NHS outside of school,” Ayla said. “I also work outside of school. I like to cook and I like to bake. Specifically birthday cakes. When it’s one of my friends’ birthdays I’ll bake them a cake. I do a lot of organizing. I love organizing my room in my free time; it’s so strange.”
Ayla keeps herself occupied with many responsibilities. One of the most time-consuming tasks she’s taken on recently is being the manager of Slimey Central. Ayla obtained this position by taking the class Intro to Business.
Intro to Business is an elective class that can be taken by all grades. It is a one-semester class that teaches students how to run a business and requires kids to start their own school business. As a senior, Ayla is not only participating in this class, but she is also the manager of her business: Slimey Central. At first, she did not choose to be in Intro to Business; Ayla originally was enrolled in KCTC but dropped out, leaving Intro to Business her only option. Although it may not have been her first choice, Ayla still wanted to take a business class.
“I was gonna do KCTC, but I dropped out, but I wanted to take more classes that could lead me towards knowing what I wanted to do in my future,” Ayla said. “And Intro to Business kind of lets me get a feel for what a business class in college might be somewhat like.”
Ayla had been assigned her position as manager by Intro to Business teacher Jared Lowe. The most important job in Intro to Business is manager because it takes the most responsibility and dedication. Other positions that students could have—that are just as important—are sales, finance, etc.
According to Ayla, it can be hard to have to lead a business with all different grade levels. Some students take the class for an “easy A,” and so, therefore, they slack off leaving all the work for managers such as Ayla.
“I feel a lot of underclassmen take it because it’s known to be an easier class,” Ayla said, “but being a leader of the business definitely makes it a lot harder. I’d say the only difficulty that I have with the class is the mixing of grades and the different positions—the easiness and the toughness of each position. That’s definitely one of the hardest parts of the class, but I do like the class a lot. Mixing up the grades is the only thing that I don’t like completely.”
Ayla struggles with the mixing of grades but she feels that she has bonded and gotten a lot closer with her group. Ayla’s group consists of upper and underclassmen, but over time, it started to bother her less and she has developed relationships and memories with her fellow Slimey Central partners such as sophomore Emma Curtis.
Ayla is not the only one who feels she’s bonded with her group, sophomore Emma Curtis, a fellow Slimey Central business partner looks up to Ayla and has developed relationships with the rest of her business associates.
“Ayla is in my group, and she is a senior,” Emma said. “She’s been a really good leader for me, and she’s been teaching me a lot, and within my group, we have gotten close and our chemistry now is really good. We’ve all grown to be good friends now; I wasn’t close with any of them before going into it, so when he showed us our group, we got nervous because we were going to have to work with these people for the rest of the semester, but I’m glad that I got put in a group with who I got put in.”
At first, Emma and Ayla were both despondent about their mixed-grade groups, but as time went on they found friendships with each other and their other business partners. Because of this, they have been able to create the product Slimey Central.
Slimey Central is the name they have dedicated to their product: slime. This product is supposed to bring FHC back to their youth with the feeling of our inner child.
“It is fluffy slime, but we’re also thinking about getting clear slime and glossy slime in the future,” Emma said. “We change up our slimes every few weeks, but we’re still on our first; we haven’t switched it up yet. During Christmas time we’re getting a new Christmas special. Right now we have Apple Cinnamon for fall.”
So far, Slimey Central has been doing well, and a perk about Intro to Business—besides the knowledge and friendships you gain from the class—is that students get to keep the money they get. Making it, according to Lowe, the most unique class you can take.
Lowe is obligated to himself not to give too many opinions about his class products; he doesn’t want his perspective to affect the product. Although that is true, he still has some opinions on Slimey Central.
“I do have very real conversations about each product and play ‘devil’s advocate’ when companies are generating ideas but don’t want my perspective to impact their marketing in any way,” Lowe said. “I will say that slime has been around for a long time so the idea feels nostalgic, and I feel like it brings a lot of people back to their childhood.”
Slimey Central is not the only company out right now, there are also Travel Treats; which sells candy from around the world, Snake Packs; which customizes snacks for students, and many more.
Intro to Business is a class where students can explore their creative side but also learn how to be professional at the same time. There are many unique and interesting parts of Intro to Business according to Ayla and Emma, but to Lowe, the most important part of Intro to Business are all the learning opportunities that students can use for their future.
“I think students should take Intro to Business because there are business-related aspects in every line of work,” Lowe said. “There are truly way too many skills that Intro to Business teaches but some of the most important are organization, problem-solving, time management, teamwork, meeting deadlines, verbal and written communication, and networking.”
