Since September, Howell High School’s Kilt Shack has been dealing with the new dietary government regulations set in place by the United States Department of Agriculture. The standards, known as the “All Foods Sold in Schools”, requires schools to follow the guidelines. This has caused changes to the products offered at the Kilt Shack.

“It’s a little more stressful this year than it’s ever been,” Mr. Tim Olszewski, HHS marketing teacher, says.

The Kilt Shack is run by four best student managers: seniors Sydney Kutt, Lily Park, Krista Rienman and junior Charlie Peterson. All managers and staff are from Mr. Olszewski’s Marketing II class.

At the end of last school year Mr. Olszewski and the Kilt Shack staff learned about the new government regulations for schools which mandates that anything sold on school grounds must be a whole grain-rich product, or the first ingredient listed on the product must be a fruit, a vegetable, or a dairy product. Food that contains 10 percent of the daily value of calcium, potassium, vitamin D or dietary fiber is allowed to be sold to students. This means that the Kilt Shack cannot sell foods that are considered unhealthy, such as regular sodas, candy, or anything of a sugary nature.

The Kilt Shack staff has stayed creative in order to keep the business profitable. To help with

keeping students engaged in the store, the store staff added a Pacman machine for entertainment, a stereo, and they recently redesigned the interior of the Kilt Shack, closing for a few days to repaint it. The managers also have high hopes for getting a heat press to make customizable t-shirts right on-site in the store.

The Kilt Shack sells a wide variety of products: popcorn, nachos, beverages, such as diet sodas, warm whole grain chocolate chip cookies, and Howell High School’s spirit wear. The Howell apparel is 100 percent designed by the marketing students. Holiday sales on the spirit wear will be upcoming. Other plans are in the making as well.

“I would like to expand internet marketing and maximize social media outlets to a better degree than we are doing now,” Mr. Olszewski says

Historically, most of the profits from the Kilt Shack have either gone to the school or as donations to staff or the community. Out of all the years that the Kilt Shack has been at Howell High School, this is the only year they have considered shutting down to regain its strength. Although the government regulations have hurt the Kilt Shack’s profits, Mr. Olszewski believes it has been a practical learning experience for the staff to adjust and adapt to the new regulations.

“Initiative and being proactive, you see a problem, solve it,” Mr. Olszewski says. This has been his steady advice to his students when they come across a challenge.

The Kilt Shack which is located in the cafeteria of Howell High School has been around for fifteen years. This program was started because Mr.Olszewski had formerly worked in retail, and he was the director of marketing at a university. He thought starting the Kilt Shack would help students with working in the fields of marketing or customer service. The name of the Kilt Shack was student created.

Although Mr. Olszewski and the Marketing II class have faced many challenges this year, he is still

very passionate about his job. He hopes that every student would consider taking a marketing class because he knows the practicality of it for whatever future profession a student chooses.

“We’re trying to maximize our opportunities that we have to sustain the learning environment here for the students,” Mr. Olszewski says.