KANSAS CITY, Mo — Students at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts are getting hands-on experience with the launch of the school’s first-ever bodega.
"It gave me a lot of experience at being in a store, helping remodel when we needed to change up the setting of the room from time to time and restocking and talking to lower-class men and it gave me a lot of business,” Paseo Academy senior Nyrie Allen said.
The bodega is the brain child of school principal, Dr. Keyona Powell, who back in September decided to turn a school storage closet into a space were students can succeed and fund student activities. Powell says school staff is in charge of ordering items based on student input. The items are sold inside the bodega, which is run by students who earn community hours during each shift. Students get paid in community service hours and learn a variety of business skills, with money-raised generating additional funds for the school’s student activity fund. While in school, students can earn ‘Bodega Bucks,’ which they can use inside the bodega as an alternative to cash for good behavior or showcasing excellence.
"This is a way to take that out of the equation and say regardless, we're going to do what we have to do for kids and this is how we're gonna make it happen,” Powell said. “They're also able to learn customer service skills, stocking, restock, supply demand, organization, dealing with difficult customers, counting money.”
Money raised in its first year is helping 24 students go to Louisiana this summer, where they’ll get to tour college campuses with their flights, meals and lodging paid for. Powell said her passion for academia started after a college visit and she wanted to provide her students a similar experience.
"I am beyond excited. I can't wait. I'm like counting down the days on the calendar,” Paseo Academy junior Maria Leon Mantei said.
Next semester, Powell said they will be working with Jobs For America's Graduate, which is a school-to-work program, that would turn the bodega into a lab and count towards graduation.
"We can't, we don't have the funding, if we want the student experience to be fun some of those things cost and this is awarding us the opportunity to give them what they need, even if it costs,” Powell said.
To donate to the bodega, contact Paseo Academy.
