South High has an abundance of opportunities, support and assistance for students from a flexible schedule to the facility itself. But one of the most underrated things the school provides for the community is the school store, The Red Zone. Mr. Graig Stone foresees The Red Zone, along with teaching all the business classes

South has to offer. The school store is run by students to teach “real-world” experiences they might run into when running or managing a business one day.

Co-President and Junior Monika Pantha shares her views on the store and what it has to offer.

“I started working at the school store my freshman year and joined FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). For the past three years, I’ve learned a lot about the world of business and problem solving. As far as the school store, we have so much to offer. Many students don’t know what we actually have, but we have quite a lot. We have anything from South apparel, to mocha frappes and smoothies, to freshly baked cookies.”

To add onto some of the items Pantha mentioned, the store now has soft pretzels and its very own coffee Mug Club.

Marketing Head and Junior Erica Wittstock elaborates on the coffee Mug Club.

“At the Red Zone we have began our very own mug club for coffee lovers. Students and teachers are both allowed to purchase mugs for the club. With a purchase of a  Red Zone coffee mug, each customer will also have the chance to purchase mug club punch card. The punch card allows for 10 cups of coffee at discounted price with the 11th one being on us. Though both students and teachers can join, teachers have an even better opportunity; if a mug is purchased by a teacher, the Red Zone has designated drop boxes in each of the teacher lounges which will allow for their mugs to be picked up and washed by a Red Zone representative later in the day. The club also allows for teachers to have their mugs delivered to them through the Red Zones delivery service.”

Students aren’t the only ones unaware of the store. When asked about it, many of the staff has admitted that they haven’t even stepped foot in the store. One teacher even shared that they know the store has snacks and coffee, but didn’t know much else about it.

Sophomore Carlos Tellez thought having a school store is cool, coming from a private school that hadn’t had anything like it.

“Coming from a smaller school, it’s cool to have something like The Red Zone to buy snacks and drinks throughout the day. It’s run by students so I think it’s all around beneficial.”

Store Advisor Stone elaborated on everything school store related,

“It is the cornerstone of the token-based economy at South; a student-run business serving the student body and community as a whole.  It develops work skills on top of management and entrepreneurial thinking. I think one of the biggest benefits of The Red Zone is that you get to apply business thinking in a very real way.  So much of what you do in school is hypothetical, so you don’t know if it really works.  There’s no doubt if the decisions made in the store were successful.  The bottom line makes that really easy to see.”

The store is closing before the end of the year and as a result, there is a clearance sale beginning this week. So if you have never been in the store, stop by and get a treat for cheap!

Also, be sure to watch for the store’s opening next year, as they will be getting new products and hosting many promotional events all year long!