Tracy Aguilar, TJX Companies
Negotiating with vendors. Tracking inventory. Planning back-to-school promotions. Sounds like any normal retailer, right? Except there’s one major difference – these duties are performed by high school students, who not only work in, but manage all aspects of their high school store.
School stores are part of Career and Technical Education (CTE), and DECA’s School-based Enterprise Program. The NRF Foundation is a member of DECA’s National Advisory Board, and at their annual meeting last week, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel about workforce preparedness. Alongside me were students from Stone Bridge High School’s DECA co-op and School-based Enterprise Program, their adviser (and CTE Department Chair) Donna Celio, and Tracy Aguilar, Manager of Field Staffing-Marmaxx, from The TJX Companies, Inc.
On this panel, we discussed the importance of preparing students for the transition from school to work, and how to provide meaningful work experiences that build skills employers value. Listening to the students talk about running their school store, it is clear it is a powerful teaching tool. Students inevitably learn management and leadership skills – all the while learning about the retail business. I shared how the NRF Foundation’s training and certification programs play a role in CTE by integrating industry-developed standards in curriculum and giving students the chance to earn a professional certification that showcases their knowledge and skills. TJX explained how they use their partnership with DECA to recruit these well-trained students for jobs in their stores. TJX recognizes that CTE students will come to work more prepared and productive from day one.
Many students’ first exposure to retail is in high school. If step one is training them for their first job in retail, I think we’re well on our way. Now, for the next step – recognizing and rewarding high-performers, and keeping them excited about working in retail. While we’ve started down this path, we still have a little further to go.
One Comment
I just read the NRF article on DECA and TJX’s project and thought you might be interested to learn of the Goodwill store at Riverside High School in El Paso, Texas. The store is managed by a Goodwill Industries job coach working with Transitional high school students who perform nearly all retail activities in a real-world environment. Below is our press release:
Goodwill Grand Opening September 24th
Pilot Store Opens at Riverside High School; First of its Kind
(Media, please join us at the grand opening of Goodwill, 9:00 to 11:00 am at Riverside High School on Thursday, September 24th, 2009.)
September 17th, 2009 —The goal of Goodwill Industries El Paso can be summed up in one simple phrase, “We make life better through work.” In pursuit of that goal Goodwill is launching a new store, Goodwill Riverside, located at Riverside High School. September 24th will be the grand opening of the Goodwill Riverside store. This will be the first store of its kind here in El Paso; it is a mini replica of a Goodwill store, and is specifically designed for students of the Ysleta Independent School District who have disabilities.
“We are excited to partner with Goodwill,” George Rodriguez with the Ysleta School District said, “This is a great opportunity for our transition students to learn the intricacies of retail. We have the chance to support these students here on campus and provide them with a job developer. Eventually they will move on to bigger things but Good Willy will help with the basic building blocks that will allow them to move forward.”
The mission of the Goodwill Riverside store is to provide hands-on, practical training which will allow the trainees to gain much needed skills and experience preparing them for entering the workforce. The participants will gain training in Customer Service Skills, Human Resources and Employee Training, Cash Handling and Point of Sale, Safety and Loss Prevention, Retail Management and Operations. Upon completion of the program students will have more opportunities when they decide to enter the workforce.
“It is exciting to be able to start a program like this, Goodwill Riverside is completely aligned with our mission of removing barriers to employment,” stated Tom Andrews, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries El Paso, “This innovative store will provide these high school students with an understanding environment where they can learn and grow and enter the workforce with confidence.”
The Goodwill Riverside store will carry many of the same items that can be found in other Goodwill stores; some clothing and other donated goods as well as new school supplies. The students at Riverside High School will certainly make up a large number of the customers but the store is open to the public. This is a unique way for the community to give back, just stop in and shop any time Monday through Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm.
About Goodwill Industries El Paso (GIEP)
Goodwill Industries of El Paso, Inc. was founded in 1948 to serve the community of El Paso by helping individuals overcome barriers to employment caused by disabilities or other disadvantages. GIEP has ten stores in El Paso, a store in Las Cruces NM, and a store in Alamogordo NM. GIEP also participates in shopgoodwill.com, the first auction site created and operated by nonprofit organizations. The Shopgoodwill site is open to the public and auctions collectibles, art, antiques and other odds and ends collected by Goodwills across the country. 82 percent of the revenue from these stores goes directly into employment and training programs for persons with barriers to employment.
Press Contact for Goodwill Industries El Paso
Arlene Alarcon
(915) 778-1858
aalarcon@goodwillep.org
One Trackback
[...] This blog post first appeared in Retail’s BIG Blog. [...]