Tuesday evening was the grand opening of the student-run convenience store Nacho Mamma’s in the Porter County Career Center (PCCTC). This is part of the Business Ownership and Sports Entertainment Marketing class that is taught every year by Judy Commers, Marketing Teacher-Coordinator at the PCCTC.
“We do this every year. This is our entrepreneurship program,” Commers said. “I’m very proud of these students. It’s not easy to take on all of this responsibility. They rotate jobs every eight weeks. Everything they learn here is hands-on experience that they can use later.”
The evening began with opening speech given by Kaela McDaniel –DECA President and Administrative Assistant for Commers, followed by some encouraging words from Jon Groth –Principal of the PCCTC. Finally, Jenna Wong, Nacho Mamma’s Store Manager, spoke to the crowd as they listened with interest.
DECA is an organization that helps to prepare students for careers in marketing, hospitality and finance. Each year, the student’s in Commers class open and run a business. They make all the decisions on how to run things, who plays what roll, and all the way down to what color the wallpaper will be inside the store.
“All of us have been leaders in the process of making Nacho Mamma’s. From the first moment that we walked into the classroom we have been brainstorming ideas for Nacho Mamma’s. We’ve had our ups and downs getting ready for this night but I think we can all agree that we’ve become like family to each other,” McDaniel said warmly.
Wong agreed with her statement, “For the past few months everyone has been working hard and diligently to make sure that sure that this night is a perfect as possible. We are all extremely qualified and capable of running this store. We take great pride in our work and have made the necessary arrangements to complete the tasks assigned to each and every one of us.”
After the speeches the students, the gentlemen looking quite dapper and the ladies exceeding loveliness, proudly cut the ribbon that ran the expanse of the store entrance. It was like opening an early holiday gift. Nacho Mamma’s was officially open!
Immediately, people swarmed into the store to make their purchases. With each purchase that night, customers received a raffle ticket that put them in a drawing for some awesome prizes that were generously donated by Pepsi (John Lain) and Onesource (Harrison Holtkamp).
Afterward, guests and students headed upstairs to Commers’ classroom to celebrate more with hors d’oeuvres and socializing. Commers was all smiles and greeted everyone as they came in.
Kyle Rafferty, Marketing Manager for Nacho Mamma’s said, “We’re really doing great on it, everyone is trying hard and we’ll have a good season.”
To find out more about Nacho Mamma’s and the PCCTC, click here!
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