Most times, it is a disruption when cell phones start ringing in class, but for one Allston-Brighton school, cell phones ringing in class is just part of the education.
Since August, students at the Media and Technology Charter High School (MATCH) have been operating their own complete Sprint PCS outlet. Ten 11th graders from the MATCH school participate in all aspects of running the real, fully operational store.
There is no difference between a Sprint PCS in downtown Boston and the one situated at 1001 Commonwealth Ave., except for its staff, according to the director of MATCH’s entrepreneurship academy, Jennifer Meyers, a graduate of the Graduate School of Management at Boston University.
Mike O’Keefe, the New England Sales Director for Sprint PCS, said the business is independently owned by the MATCH school. The school buys the phones from Sprint and sells them, receiving revenue based on how many they sell.
Sprint worked with the school over the last year to plan and develop the store, including deciding what the store would look like. In mid-August, students were brought in to learn how to sell wireless technology and trained them about the industry, O’Keefe said.
‘The school gets paid on their productivity level,’ he said. ‘They [just have to] staff the whole store.’
In fact, all of the students who work at the Sprint PCS store receive hourly wages as well as commissions from Sprint. The money earned by these students is put into a savings fund that can only be used for college, Meyers said.
‘This is helping kids go to college,’ she said. ‘It is an incentive and a way for them to pay for college.’
Students who work there do not receive any free phones or plans, but do, however, get an employee rate deal just like any other PCS store. They receive 750 anytime minutes for only $15 a month.
Meyers said the store is a great way for students to learn about real business practices in a real setting. All decisions the students make affect how the store is run, including how profitable it is.
O’Keefe agreed and said it is a great situation for everyone involved.
‘It’s a strong win-win situation for the school, students and for Sprint,’ he said. ‘They’re learning things that will be with them their whole lives. They are building their resumes.’
While no profits go back to Sprint PCS, any money left over after expenses goes toward extracurricular activities at the school. However, they ‘haven’t seen that profit yet,’ Meyers said. The store also cost approximately $60,000 to $80,000 to open, she added.
Jonathan Correia, a MATCH school student and one of the 10 who volunteered for the program, said he probably would not have worked in a setting like this if it were not for the school’s program.
‘Well, I wanted to get a job,’ he said, adding he probably would have just worked at the local City Sports or Eastern Mountain Sports. Both jobs would not have been able to give him the entrepreneurial education he receives from MATCH
Correia said the time he spends at the Sprint store is actually helping him prepare for possible future ventures of his own.
‘Since I am learning about small businesses, and small businesses are opening everywhere, I will probably be one of those small businesses,’ he said. ‘This will help me be more profitable.’
While actively participating in running the store during the week and on the weekends, usually in four-hour shifts, students also attend an entrepreneurship class, which teaches them business practices they incorporate into the store.
‘What they do in the store relates back [to class],’ Meyers said.
Meyers also said she and Correia would be going through accounting and income statements this week, which directly correlate into what he was learning in class.
Besides giving students a great learning opportunity, the store has also been selling phones regularly and making money. According to Meyers, the store sold approximately 35 phones in the month of August, having only been open for less than a week. The store then sold 125 phones in September and 50 to 60 phones in October. O’Keefe noted how the store was ‘exceeding expectations.’
‘The sales for that last week in August and in all of September were great,’ she said. Meyers said she expects there to be an increase in sales during the holiday season.
At this point, the store is doing well, and Meyers said she has little doubt they will not succeed in their business venture, but if the store were to fail for some reason, it would still teach the students a good lesson.
‘[Failure is] a real possibility because it is hard for any new business to stay in business,’ she said. ‘Sometimes closing the business is the best thing to do. It’s a learning experience whether we succeed or fail.’
BU has a definite impact on the store because the two schools are located so close together, and Meyers said BU students are good for talent, consultation and revenues.
‘They’re our target customer,’ she said.
Last fall, when the MATCH school considered adding a business to the school, they used a group of MBA students to conduct a feasibility study on the idea and the chance of its success. In the spring, another BU graduate student designed the business plan for the Sprint store and the school.
Currently, the MATCH school is working with the GSM on a ‘mentor program’ for next year. The school hopes to pair one MBA graduate student with each of the five students who return next year in ‘director positions,’ according to Meyers.
The Sprint PCS store currently employs three BU student interns from the School of Management who oversee store operations on the weekends when Meyers is not there. One student is a graduate student while the other two are undergrads, she said.
Unlike other school stores selling shirts, pens and pencils to only its students, this one has a much different customer base.
‘It wouldn’t make much sense for someone to go that far out of their way to support a school,’ she said.
Rather, she added, the school and the store are situated at a prime retail location.
Meyers said she hopes the store can provide a realistic approach to business, and possibly provide some financial support to inner-city youth who would not have had such an opportunity before.