Guest Post by Raya Reid

December wrapped up an exciting and busy first semester for the Marketing and DECA program! Our team spent time gearing up for the school year and planning new projects for our businesses. We stayed active in the school and community by holding pop-up shops at football games, hosting fundraisers in partnership with companies like Chipotle and Panda Express, and organizing fun events like PowderPuff.

Each season, the merchandising committee of our marketing team starts to plan out visual updates to the display case in front of the store. To get Fort Orange ready for the holidays, we hung snowflake garland, put up a Christmas tree, and decorated with various festive items. Keeping the store and display case updated helps to continually appeal to new guests. We hope the winter decor will brighten spirits and make the Fort a cozy place to grab a snack and hang out.

During the last week before winter break, our DECA chapter sponsered a ‘DECA the Halls’ holiday spirit week. Themes like holiday pajamas, north pole, festive sweaters, and candy cane encouraged students and staff to keep morale and holiday spirit high going into exams. From Santa hats and reindeer antlers to ugly Christmas sweaters, this event allowed Orange to showcase it’s creativity and feel like a community.

Fort Orange also hosted a holiday sale where various items were sold at a discounted price to make room for our retail team to create new designs. Limited time holiday shirts were available for sale, along with a hot chocolate special that included options of regular, peppermint, and whipped cream with marshmallows. The hot chocolate sale was a big success and we look forward to providing warm drinks for our students and staff throughout the rest of the winter!

To accompany the holiday special, OOHS welcomed Santa back for another year of photos right outside Fort Orange. Students had the opportunity to pay for a photo with Santa in front of a festive backdrop during their lunch period on Thursday, December 14. This event provided a lighthearted break from the stress of midterm season and a fun way to promote Fort Orange’s holiday sale.

This semester, we’re looking forward to advancing other projects and events like updating our online store, opening Fort Orange for basketball games, and taking several students to the DECA States competition in March and the DECA ICDC competition in Anaheim, California in April! A few DECA members ran a Winter donation drive to collect clothes and necessities for homeless youth in Columbus, while others worked to promote our program and recruit rising Juniors and Seniors for next year.

Our team has also continued to focus on implementing and promoting Pioneer Peak, our new coffee shop located within Fort Orange. Check out the blog post on this special venture here: OOHS Coffee Shop Rebrand. As Spring Break approaches, slushies have become available at Pioneer Peak, and the merchandising committee is planning out a spring update to the display case outside the store.

Stay tuned for more exciting changes to come this semester!