OFHS DECA Recognized for Outstanding School-Based Enterprise

Oak Forest, Ill—The Bengal Bean and the Busy B’s, the school-based enterprises at Oak Forest High School, were among 461 school-based enterprises achieving GOLD CERTIFICATION for the 2021-2022 school year and will be recognized during DECA’s International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, GA. OFHS had 2 of 4 businesses recognized in the state of Illinois.

A school-based enterprise (SBE) is an entrepreneurial operation in a school setting that provides goods and services to meet the needs of the school community. SBEs are managed entirely by students as a hands-on learning lab that integrates curriculum standards in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA teacher, Mrs. Katie Gomez, uses this effective educational tool to provide OFHS students with realistic and practical learning experiences that reinforce classroom instruction, and prepare students for college and careers.

OFHS is an unusual school in that DECA manages two student-run businesses instead of just one as most schools in Illinois do. One business that DECA manages is the Busy B’s, which is a t-shirt/sweatshirt design and printing business. The other business is the Bengal Bean, a coffee shop based in the school cafeteria which is wildly popular with students and faculty alike.

The OFHS DECA members that contributed to the gold certification were Seniors Brooke Zwartz, Mikayla Moloney, and Heather Gibbs, who managed the Busy B’s; and Junior Ella Kalnins, and Seniors Katelyn Ceska and Dej’a Williams who managed the Bengal Bean, with the assistance of the DECA chapter adviser, Katie Gomez.

Participation in these businesses has brought these students a lot of personal pride in work well done. Mikayla Moloney said, “Walking around school makes us proud because we designed [the t-shirt students are wearing.] When we talk to students and they don’t know we made them, it’s cool!”

These students are not just student workers in the two businesses that DECA runs at OFHS. They are actually the managers and are responsible for the day-to-day operations and troubleshooting of problems. They know they can always go to the adviser Mrs. Gomez if there is a problem, but they always try to solve the problem themselves first.

The only Junior on the Bengal Bean leadership team, Ella Kalnins, said, “Working here taught me management skills and how to schedule workers. I feel like it prepared me for the real world.”

One of the things the management team had to problem solve was inventory, Katelyn Ceska explained. “We had to problem solve so that inventory was not missing.” Sometimes, however, that takes a firm hand because they are, after all, working with and for their peers and their peers will ask for free stuff. Katelyn said that she wants to make everyone happy “but she can’t give away things for free.”

The Busy B’s have to be very bottom-line conscious because the people they are selling t-shirts to want good quality clothing at a low price. Brooke Zwartz said to do this, you “have to know your cost/profit bottom line.” If you don’t, you could make a mistake and that could end up costing you money. She also reflects, though, that those types of errors “makes us grow and that makes us proud.”

Some of the fun things that the Bengal Bean management team enjoy is working with new items and learning to suggest and sell new drinks. Katelyn Ceska said it was fun to offer students “samples of new drinks--that brought in new business. We put the new drinks on social media and that helped to boost sales growth.”

Senior Dej’a Williams said that they really studied the sales totals when they started working with the frother. As they predicted, sales showed an increase.

The three managers of the Bengal Bean are very proud of how far the Bengal Bean has come and the dedication that the Bengal Bean crew has put into it with their time and effort during their lunch and free periods.

The three managers of the Busy B’s are also very proud of their business as well. Heather Gibbs said she is especially proud of “how fast we can get things done on short notice.”

Oak Forest High School is extremely fortunate in that we have two of the four School-Based-Enterprises that will be recognized at the National Convention in Georgia later this school year!