With many new ideas for the future underway, the De Soto High School marketing team has been collaborating to improve the demand for school apparel. 

One major addition that the marketing team will be launching is a new website. This website will allow students and families to have access to new merchandise anywhere at any time. To make this possible, the program has partnered with Century Marketing, a local marketing firm based out of Lenexa, to create many more product opportunities. 

“I personally hope the improvements in the store specifically will help increase awareness and enthusiasm about [DHS] business programs,” said senior marketing student Taylor Ellis. 

To generate some new thought processes, the marketing team took an afternoon field trip to district partner Mill Valley High School to see what their marketing habits consist of. 

“We [the DHS marketing team] started asking what they have done and borrowing some of their good ideas. That’s when we realized there was more money to be made,” said DHS technology teacher and marketing instructor Ben Stamey. “We realized they [Mill Valley Marketing] made more [money] in that morning than we had made in weeks.” 

Ellis agreed that this experience will make a huge impact on the creations of new habits for the program. 

“Learning from our district partner has inspired many changes for the upcoming semester and the future of the store,” Ellis said. “We [the Marketing team] are excited to have the opportunity to show everyone how school spirit can be redefined.”

Aside from brainstorming new ideas, the program has benefited Ellis and her peers in a variety of other ways. 

 “My favorite part about the marketing program is that you’re involved in something inside the school without the outside commitment. It’s an extremely easy way to stay involved with the school and student body, and it is one of the best choices I made in my high school career,” Ellis said.

School spirit is not a factor that is lacking at DHS, so the marketing team hopes to continue to embrace the growing population of school involvement. 

“We have plenty of school spirit and school pride, but hopefully this can add a little bit more and allow a little more variety with a chance to wear some things that aren’t just typical [school themed] colors and have something different on our students’ backs,” Stamey said.