Grayslake North Students Work to Bolster Local Businesses

Looking for some last-minute holiday gift ideas? One local high school class would encourage you to look no further than your local small businesses.

As many local small businesses in the northern Lake County area have been struggling since March due to the restrictions stemming from the pandemic, the Public Service Practicum course at Grayslake North High School has been working on a campaign to promote support for local businesses during the holidays and beyond.

The students’ campaign has focused on using social media to engage students, families, faculty, and staff at the school to order gifts or purchase gift cards online to support local retail stores, restaurants, and cafes.

The class has partnered with the Grayslake Chamber of Commerce, elected officials, and local business owners to garner support for their campaign

“What we're doing is we're raising awareness of what the companies are doing and what they're selling, and we're trying to get more people out to buy their products this season,” said junior Emily Larivvee. “We’re also reaching out to the companies themselves and asking what they need, how can we help so that we can make a bigger impact.”

Students wanted to help their community and found through their initial research that supporting small businesses could make a big difference.

“We developed this project because I've seen the impact local businesses have on our community and our school,” Larrivee said. “I feel if we were able to help these people, we’ll be able to have a broader impact than if we just reached out to one cause because I feel like all the local businesses as a whole work to build up many different areas of our community.”

“What we aim to accomplish is drawing in customers for our local businesses,” said senior Kelechi Akalaloanu. “Every new purchase made by a customer helps pay for employees’ shifts, supplies and necessary equipment.”

The class intends to continue the campaign following the school’s holiday break when local small businesses will not be benefitting from the holiday retail season.

“It was important to the students that we continue this effort beyond the holiday season,” said Tim Sermak, the teacher of the Public Service Practicum course. “The students felt that once the holidays are over, our local businesses will still be here and will still be in need of our support.”

For more information please contact Tim Sermak at tsermak@d127.or