By: Delani Beagles and Chelsea Dekock

For years, students have been restricted by the confines of the educational system, simply following the “status quo” and doing the bare minimum just to graduate. As time has passed, schools have developed their programs and have prepared students to genuinely pursue opportunities that never seemed possible for a regular high school student. Springfield High School has developed a plethora of programs for students to grow their experience for potential careers, one of which is the entrepreneurship program. 

Karri Devlin, a veteran teacher at SHS, runs this program with the intention of helping students reach their full potential as a business owner. “We try to emphasize the importance of leadership and creativity in regards to starting your own business. We talk about how to promote your business, and how to manage it financially. They also learn how to sell a product and collect the money. Students can pick their marketing team and sell their own product on what’s called Market Days at lunch. They’ll set up their products at lunch and we’ll try to sell them to the student body. We have some grant money that helps buy the supplies but the students pretty much have to come up with the money for the supplies I don’t provide. They also have to determine the markup and how much they’re going to sell it for to make sure that they can cover their costs.” 

Because of her expertise and experiences, Mrs. Devlin has solid advice for students who want to pursue a career in business. “I will say that the success of their business really depends on how the kids market their product. If they’re not going to go that extra mile to put it out on social media or to actually sit down at lunch and sell it or to walk around and promote it then they usually don’t sell that well. There are different roles in each group and they have to choose who they want to be in charge of marketing. They try to assign each other roles based on the roles they give them and then they have to be accountable. One of the biggest things I teach is creativity. You have to think of a problem and think of how to solve it; like you know these t-shirts are fine and dandy, but you know maybe there’s a design that people want that we’ve never created before. Think of something very simple and basically they just have to be business smart.” Many SHS students have participated in the program. This includes Tally Martin, a recent graduate of Springfield High. Tally runs a jewelry business called “Miss Tally Jewelry” and her business has truly blossomed since it first started.

 When asked about her initial business idea, Tally said, “I started my business during COVID because I was bored and I wanted something to do with my time. I originally saw a TikTok of someone making pom-pom earrings and I saw that her business had a lot of success and I wanted to see if I could make a business like that.” 

 With Tally being an SHS entrepreneurial success story with personal experiences, she shared her struggles to encourage younger generations of students on their business journey.
“The hardest part is getting your name out there and convincing others why they should buy from you. I sold jewelry and it is easy to go into Francesca’s or a store like it and buy a cute necklace so it is hard to convince other people why my necklaces are better. The dynamic has changed a lot since I graduated– no one refers to me as “Miss Tally Jewelry” when I see them around campus. In high school everywhere I went people called me, “Miss Tally Jewelry.” In all seriousness, I have not been focusing on my jewelry business as much because it takes an immense amount of time to be where I want to be and I got burnt out since I worked so hard. I would be up until 2:00 a.m. working on graphics and redesigning my website, misstally.com. I do still sell jewelry but I have been posting or going to events like I used to.” 

From Mrs. Devlin’s entrepreneurship program, to creating their own businesses, student entrepreneurs have proven time and time again that they have an unstoppable drive. Mrs. Devlin has provided a plethora of resources and opportunities for SHS students to pursue their goals and turn dreams into realities. With their innovative young minds, they are the future of the business industry. And to those who do not possess the entrepreneurial spirit, support your classmates by buying local! 

Photo courtesy of Delani Beagles