The Nest is open

The Nest -- a small shop on the Pea Ridge High School campus -- is open. A ribbon cutting was held at 12:30 p.m. Monday and students stopped by for a cup of coffee and to browse through the apparel.

In addition to providing students with coffee and Blackhawk apparel, it is a business model teaching students how to run a small business under the guidance of Tiauna Young, the business teacher and store manager.

Members of the culinary arts class made miniature cupcakes which were given out to students visiting the store the first day.

The store, located on the west end of PRHS, has both a door to the outside and a door to an interior hallway so it can be accessed during ballgames. The store is open before school and various hours throughout the day depending on the flex-mod schedule, Young said.

"We received a grant to purchase items needed to run the store," Young said, adding that the School District loaned money to the venture. The students hope to earn enough money to repay that loan this year, one student said.

"The kids have worked long hours getting it ready," she said. "The class runs it. They will learn about work and how to deal with customers, how to deal with inventory, order merchandise ... and how to provide good customer service."

Young said there is also a "mobile device" (a kiosk) which will also be used.

Morgan Humphrey, an eighth-grader who visited, said: "I think it looks pretty nice. It's very organized."

N.E.S.T. is an acronym for Nothing Ever Stops This and is the name of the student section at athletic events. There are official N.E.S.T. T-shirts for sale in the store and are the "official shirts for the student section," Young said.

"We've been trying to get this thing running ... but now that we've got it going, it's more educational," Weber said, explaining that he enjoyed studying profit margins.

Weber, Tatum Richardson and exie Garrett all said they work at other businesses. Weber said he works at Pea Ridge Veterinary Clinic, Richardson works at the Boys & Girls Club and Garrett works at a retail clothing store in Rogers.

Brandon Bowman said, "Most of what I learned was from last year. We had marketing... the building of the store."

"Hi, welcome to The Nest," Garrett said to a student who walked in.

Several students bought a cup of coffee and many looked through the t-shirts, hats and lanyards for sale.

"On behalf of our small business class," Young said, "We would like to thank the IT department for getting our technology hooked up, the maintenance crew who did a tremendous amount of work in getting The Nest constructed, the students for getting so hyped up, the teachers for their support, the Pea Ridge flower shop for donating our ribbon, Mrs. Rickard's Culinary class for the grand opening cupcakes, and most importantly, the administration for allowing us to bring such an amazing opportunity to our school.

"We could not have done it without everyone's help!"

Students are Wyatt Weber, Denver Yates, Joey Hall, Alexis Cotton, Brandon Bowman, Devin Norwood, Romeo Torres, Lexie Garrett, Trevor Helton, Robby Pickthall, Tatum Richarson, Kieara Bryant and Sunny Olson.