Two classes combined into one, and an added amount of personality.

Marketing two and Advanced Marketing were joined this year after six of the advanced marketing students decided to take an independent study with Mrs. O’Brien because the class wasn’t going to run for the 2016-17 school due to the lack of students. Wanting to continue their education in Marketing and also their love of O’Brien is what made all six of the Advanced Marketing boys continue with the class.

“Mrs. O’Brien is such a fun teacher,” Advanced Marketing senior Jack Bowling said. “And business is a subject that I may continue with in college.”

With these classes combined, the school store will be run a little bit differently this year with the Advanced Marketing students as the managers and the marketing two students as the cashiers and the people around the cafeteria telling others about the store. In years past, only the Advanced Marketing students were allowed to run the store. Since these two classes are combined now, O’Brien is allowing the other students to be included in the store hoping they will continue onto Advanced Marketing.  

“It’s definitely a work in progress because this is the first time that students are running the store and I am not doing it by myself,” O’Brien said. “I have to take a step back, but still have a control over them so there is going to have to be a lot of trust.”

Marketing two students are excited to be included in the school store this year with not knowing the classes would be combined until the first day of school, the excitement has skyrocketed since they have been included in a lot of the decision making.

“We had a couple days last week where we all talked about what was going to be in the store and we designed t-shirts with new ideas,” Marketing 2 senior Kyle Peirce said. “We’re selling planners since the school didn’t provide them this year and we are also selling lollipops again so we got to taste test those last week. We definitely have had a lot of input.”

Atmosphere is what both classes want to improve and the hope is that more people will want to come in during lunch because of the way the store is run and the products they are selling. They want to aim at drawing in the lower grades because they are the ones more likely to buy merchandise and also sign up to take the marketing classes if they see what they will be able to do once in Advanced Marketing. The students want to create an environment that is fun to allow students to take a break from their day and enjoy some of the things they are selling.

“There are plenty of big personalities in both classes,” O’Brien said. “I think even though some students are a little all over the board sometimes, it’ll help bring a lot of students into the store because they are so social and welcoming.”

Advanced Marketing Managers include Parker Baugh, Jack Bowling, Nate DeRoos, Harry Engler, John Fuller, and Dylan Mackey. All six of them ready to take on the spot of store manager for the other seventeen in the class, wanting The O’Briens Market to be something they can be proud of and something that other students want to be a part of.

“The products this year are going to be higher quality and things that students actually want to buy,” Bowling said. “We’re also going to create a better environment, get the jams going. When you walk in [the store] you’re not going to want to leave.”