To Sarah Pincus, hands-on learning is a high priority in her marketing classes at Lindbergh High School. Over the past year, four of her students were given the hands-on opportunity to run a small business — called a “School Based Enterprise” — in the very halls of their high school: a vending machine.

The students’ weekly efforts in operating the vending machine, along with an extensive report on the ins and outs of the business, received national recognition from DECA, an international organization that gives students business and leadership experience.

“I was so excited, I think I was jumping up and down in my classroom,” Pincus said. “It was a lot of work for everyone involved, and you want to see your students succeed. When they do, it’s so awesome. It’s the coolest part about being a teacher.”

Josh Frantti, Austin Jones, Thomas Shamia and Alexa Parrott are all seniors in Pincus’ internship class. Their internship started with the purchase of a new vending machine for LHS, which Pincus says was paid off within eight months of its operation.

Since then, they’ve been steadily stocking the vending machine. Pincus says, “That’s what people think of when they think of kids running a vending machine business,” but they do much more than that. The four students are responsible for other tasks like ordering inventory, keeping track of an inventory count for district audits, managing a monthly cash-flow statement, depositing the cash, filling out deposit reports and more. 

LHS was one of 19 DECA chapters in Missouri to submit a report that received this national certification this year. Of the 19 schools, Lindbergh was one of two from the St. Louis area — the other being in Wentzville. Schools can apply for recertification each year, but LHS was one of the slim few to earn it for the first time with a brand new report.

Two of the students involved are going to Atlanta for the international competition in April, where they will present part of their report. They’ll also be able to attend a class about running small businesses.

“This internship program has really been good to give students experiences outside the classroom, doing what they think they might want to do in the future,” Pincus said.