Back In Business: Marketing Application students share their DECA projects consisting of a paper and presentation that they’ll compete in early March for DECA state

Inspired by their frustration for the lack of reactive solutions during school shootings, seniors Henry Stechschulte, Will Alexander and Eddie Leopold have created the first reactive solution: the metal door. 

They started by asking themselves a simple question: “What are the solutions right now?” While many schools have adapted to shootings by placing armed guards in buildings, implementing active shooter protocols and introducing metal detectors, Stechshulte explains that the problem is that those are all preventative measures. But, the group’s idea for a metal door is a reactive solution — it activates when a threat actually occurs.

In their plan, each classroom will be arranged with a large box on top of the door containing three different bullet proof metal panels. As the threat enters the building, administration and the office will send a warning over the intercom that the doors will descend out of the box in 15 seconds. Teachers will then check the halls for wanderers before the doors come down.

“Every school’s different, every layout’s different,” Stechschulte said. “But with the metal doors we can at least guarantee safety for some people. Some may say, ‘What if kids get locked out?’ but we lock doors anyway and the drill is that we don’t open doors after they are locked even if someones knocking, so the metal doors would only guarantee that kids behind those doors are safe.”

At the DECA state competition in early March, the boys will present their project in the form of a tri-fold board along with a 3D-model of how the door will actually work. They also plan to play a video looking down on the blueprint of a school, showing how the 15 seconds will work and explaining the new drills schools must emphasize before using the door. 

“Obviously this would be a change that has to do with the safety of kids so we will have very clear steps of what we will do and how schools must drill this new plan,” Stechschulte said. “When it happens, hopefully most people remember the drills and keep as many people safe as possible.” 

What started as an idea to keep students from wandering the halls for too long has transformed into seniors Reece Kaneda, Joe Hardinger and Ethan Boren’s DECA project — the Poop Clock — an iPad that will track attendance.  

Though their marketing teacher Mercedes Rassmusen insists on a new name, the boys see the Poop Clock as the most technologically advanced invention to keep track of attendance. 

As mentioned in their 10-page paper, the Poop Clock will be stationed on a classroom wall by the door, for students to sign-in and out using their student ID as they enter and leave class. Their attendance at the beginning of the hour will be sent directly to the attendance center, and if students want to leave class to go to the bathroom or get a drink, they will sign out and the iPad will inform the teacher. 

Students who leave the classroom have the option to click bathroom, counselor, water fountain or other.

“At first it was a clock just to see how long you go to the bathroom,” Kaneda said. “But it’s now more about accountability of students who are skipping class or taking too long of breaks.”

Once the Poop Clock is in schools, the boys’ idea is that teachers can personalize controls on the clock — allowing for only a certain number of students out of the classroom at a time. The system will mean more instruction time for teachers as they’ll no longer have to take attendance or be interrupted throughout lessons. Plus, it’ll ease accountability of students for teachers and substitutes as it tracks how long students are out.

Teachers and administration will have direct access to live attendance during the school day. So in case of emergencies, each student will be accounted for without deliberation of where they went.

“If there’s a threat in the building it will tell the teacher where each student is and how long they’ve been gone,” Kaneda said.

Kate Schirger never faltered on what she wanted her DECA project to be. As a member of the teen board and active volunteer for the Children’s Place, she knew she wanted to do a charitable project under the Community Giving DECA category. 

The Children’s Place is an organization that cares for children ages one to eight years old that have been impacted by traumatic events like mental and physical abuse. 

Schirger organized The Children’s Place’s first official Holiday Giving Shop on Dec. 7 for her project where kids shopped for the loved ones in their lives. Her goal was to teach kids that the holiday season is just as much about giving as it is receiving gifts.

Kate reached out to the top donors, frequent Children’s Place volunteer and the Chiefs Vice President of Community Impact Anna Sharf, to collect donations for the holiday shop. Alongside Chiefs gear like hats, flags and drawstring bags, the kids each received a stocking filled with toothbrushes, small gift cards, toothpaste, gloves and a hat. 

“The kids got to pick out different colored blankets and hats,” Kate said. “They had to make decisions based on what they thought their parents or their caregiver would like — something they may not have done before.” 

Kids ranging from two to seven years old ran in squealing to the shop to pick up their gifts for their caregivers.

“I love hanging out with those kids and volunteer regularly there, but I’ve never seen their faces light up so fast when they saw all the presents,” Kate said. “Some were too little to understand that the gifts weren’t exactly theirs, but they all looked like they were having a great time.”