by Annie Zhang, news editor

Instead of frantically digging around in a backpack looking for a pencil that seemed to be there just minutes ago, students can now just head over to Tiger Cage, a student-run store located in the back of the cafeteria, and buy their supplies right at the school.

“The idea [of having a school store] has always been in the air,” senior Randi Miller, Tiger Cage’s manager, said. “But it was originally Mr. Fox’s idea, and he got it all started.”

However, setting up Tiger Cage was no small feat, and everyone pitched in to make the school store possible.

“We’ve been meeting over the summer, and for the past two weeks, we’ve been working our tails off turning this store into something up and running,” business teacher Chris Fox said during a speech for the grand opening on Sept. 6. “Mrs. Elder has given us amazing support, and she was the driving force who has [turned] the small idea of a school store into a greater scheme.”

Students’ opinions were also very important to the set-up of the school store, and Fox’s students surveyed many classes to ask them what they would like to see in the school store.

“If it [weren’t] for the students, we wouldn’t have all the ideas that we have now,” Miller said.

Tiger Cage now sells different types of school supplies and school memorabilia, and it is working on selling holiday items, like Halloween and Christmas, and food and drinks.

“We want to make everything easier, so you don’t have to go out to Wal-Mart to get a poster that you forgot,” Miller said. “It’s right here, at our school.”

The store received a “considerable amount of traffic” on opening day, but it did experience a bit of a problem in the following days, as most people had already bought their school supplies.

“It was kind of rough at first, but as the year is going by, a lot more people are coming by as [their supplies] run out,” Miller explained. “We had almost fifteen football players come by at one time just to buy sunglasses.”

Tiger Cage not only sells general school supplies and memorabilia, but has also been working with different clubs to get their merchandise in.

“We’re making money for everyone–the clubs, the schools, the teachers, the students–so we can all use it to better our school,” Miller said.

Miller, a student in Fox’s class, had first heard about a possible school store in early March of this year, and noted to a friend about “how cool it would be if we had something like that at our own school,” she said. Fox then approached her, asking if she would like to apply for a position at the store.

“I looked at the list of positions on the page, and I knew that manager would be something I’d enjoy being,” Miller said.

Tiger Cage not only conveniently allows students to buy supplies and other items, but also provides a great opportunity for students like Miller to sharpen their entrepreneurship skills.

“Some of y’all will become doctors, some of y’all will be with the instruments, but most of you are going to become involved in the business world,” superintendent Eddie Coulson said during the grand opening. “It’s very important to have some well-rounded, fundamental practice, and that’s what you’re getting here.”