The Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) is building a retail store at the intersection of C and E halls downstairs called “The Roost” for students and teachers to purchase apparel and other products like cups and even earbuds. The Roost is expected to finish construction on February 28th.

“We thought it’d be just an amazing idea if we could build a store in which we could design clothes for the clubs, students, teachers and really for the whole district,” senior DECA president Thatcher Bartlett said.

The Roost’s products will be on display on racks visible by customers walking by in E Hall that showcase products for sale in-store, with plans for online custom orders in the future.

“We’re going to make products initially for teachers and students in the school,” Bartlett said. “And then we’re going to hopefully expand and do all sorts of prints and customizations for everybody.”

Bartlett said he named the store “The Roost” because he felt like it was a good fit since it’s where eagles spend a lot of time.

“It’s where they design a lot of things, and it’s just a fitting name overall for us,” Bartlett said.

DECA teacher Lee Geffert said he’s had the idea of opening up a merchandise store at RHS for 11 years, but through the leadership of the officer team last year, they finally got funding and the district’s support to start this project.

Bartlett wrote a proposal and a letter to the district asking to acquire grant funds for the Roost and the district approved the plan.

“We just were taking a long shot and seeing if the district would approve it,” Bartlett said.

Geffert said the principals have always been supportive of their dream of having a school store so he always had a “green light” to start it once funding was arranged.

Bartlett said it was originally going to be a simple renovation of the office space, but when they met with the district’s architects and engineers, they made a new design with graphics and paint jobs.

“They sort of redid the entire expectations that we had,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett said he hopes to have their food-based store, The Perch, in the same room with the design they currently have. They will use their window in C hall for students to buy Chick-Fil-A sandwiches every Friday and Tuesday.

“It’ll be nice to have the Perch in there as well because it’ll give us one place for both of our stores,” Bartlett said.

He said the district decided that they were going to fund the project more with their resources because they like the idea a lot. The construction, approving the designs and spending has been the district’s choice and direction. DECA only had to initialize the grant which started out small but has since grown.

“I’m thankful that it has grown because it’s going to allow us to do so much,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett said he’s the founder and lead advisor of the store, who makes sure everything’s going well, the logbooks are recorded appropriately and making sure that customers and employees in the store are being checked up on.

Other students will be able to hold leadership positions in the Roost such as managers where they can train the employees inside the store and be in charge of the finances.

Bartlett said opening up the Roost gives students the opportunity to learn how to use equipment, get job training and resume experience for jobs in the future.

Students who work in the Roost will be in Geffert’s entrepreneurship classes. Bartlett said they’re currently making a schedule for those students to work in the store during the morning, afternoon or at home games. The schedule will change on a weekly basis so everybody gets a chance to work in there.

“Our goal for next year to have DECA officers that are able to run different parts of the day and adjusting their schedule,” Geffert said.

Geffert said while the administration is fully supportive of allowing students to adjust their schedule to work in the Roost, they’re still working out the logistics and making sure students have the right amount of classes and hours.

Bartlett said before students get fully employed, they will get trained on the equipment and learn the safety hazards and precautions. While the machines are the highest rated safety precautions, there’s still a risk of misuse or mishandling of each machine.

Geffert said they’re working on the logistics of having the Roost open during home games where customers in the stadium can place their order online and delivered out to them.

He said this semester will be their “trial and error” process where they figure out what works best for them.

“Next year, we’ll have it all ironed out,” Geffert said.

He said the Roost is a non-profit where all the money gained through sales will go back into DECA for funding, memberships, fields trips and competitions. But his ultimate goal is to add DECA scholarships for students in the future.

“We’re still working out the details of what that will look like, but all the money that’s raised from the store goes straight back to the students,” Geffert said.

Bartlett said he hopes the Roost will drive up the spirit levels here at RHS and make the RHS community more intertwined.

“I hope that students at RHS are going to be like, ‘wow, we have our own school store,'” Bartlett said.

Geffert said his hope for the Roost is to give students the opportunity to have a living space where they can get hands on experience while in high school.

“They can take [that] in the real world once they leave and maybe have a dream or an idea to start their own company,” Geffert said.