The Lightning Mart, Franklin’s student-led store, is a vibrant part of the school offering many snacks and treats for students and staff alike. But behind the counter, the Student Store continues to raise large sums of money for Franklin and its community. This school year has been an incredible year for fundraisers, including the cancer awareness month fundraiser, and donations to Michelle’s Love and the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.
A first year student in the business program, Kenya Sogaw, who is currently a junior at Franklin who works in the Lighting Mart, describes it as a place that benefits students — not only the customers, but also the students participating in the program. “It’s a good experience for the students — people can use it for later opportunities and it can be helpful for people who might want a job that requires customer service,” she shares.
Lightning Mart’s manager of two years, Jose Losoya, is one of two business teachers at Franklin, and is the advisor of Student Store. Besides teaching Student Store Management, he teaches classes such as Personal Finance, Introduction to Business, Computer Applications, and Accounting.
Losoya has been assisting in the Lightning Mart for the eight years he has been at Franklin. He describes the accomplishment that this school year has brought. “I think the biggest one is the fundraising, because every year we have increased the amount that we were able to give away to local nonprofits,” he says. Last year, they were able to donate around $1,300 to a local nonprofit, Michelle’s Love. This year it has increased to about $1,500. Michelle’s Love is a charity meant to help out single parents who are in cancer treatment. They rely on donations and volunteering to help with housing and meals for these families.
Another organization that the Lightning Mart works with is the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, which is where the “students identify a focus of what they want to partner with in local nonprofits,” Losoya states. Finding nonprofits which fit or fulfill the mission statement they have chosen. This school year, students decided to donate money towards affordable housing and homelessness. “Being a part of the program, they give us $7,500 with the anticipation that each group fundraises $750,” he continues. The students are split into two groups depending on what day they work; the gray team working on A days and the maroon team working on B days.
When asked what Losoya would like to see in the future for Lightning Mart, he responds with, “I’d love to see more fundraising efforts, because we do the pink out (cancer awareness) in October, during December, January, and February, we do the Schnitzer care — then there are what we call the Lighting Mart Grants which we donate the profits to teachers and staff of Franklin. You know, I would love to see us doing more of that, whether we offer more products, we want to help out any staff member that wants it.” He would love to fund all of the grants that teachers write, but they don’t have the funds as of now. Lighting Mart is only able to pick around five to six teachers to fund, based on a student vote after reading teachers’ applications for the grant.
Sogaw gives a quick review of what the student store sells in order to reach their goals. “Throughout the year, we do mini fundraisers, with special items”, she continues. “We did sundaes, which would come with froyo, two cookies, and [whipped] cream, topping it off with a cherry.” Items like these get people into the store. Part of participating in the store is brainstorming ideas that could make a profit, such as the aforementioned sundaes.
Sogaw would like to see “more variety, as well as better advertisements,” she says, clarifying that “at the beginning of the year, there were a lot of people coming in, but as the year has progressed, maybe students don’t know about new items.” As Lightning Mart progresses, the students continue to grow and find solutions to problems, and every year they prioritize improvement.
Lightning Mart has had a successful year, and it’s ready for the next! Losoya has mentioned that for next year that he would like to hear from the student population, saying, “If kids have something that they want, or an idea of what we should fundraise for, let us know.” The student store not only offers tasty snacks, but they also put in great efforts to fundraise for foundations and charities all over the Portland Metro Area.
