While the school store does sell merchandise to promote school pride, they do so much more behind the scenes. 

Although the school store volunteers focus on creating quality clothing with a variety that is tailored to the LZ members desires, they partake in influencing school spirit in many ways.

“The store is part of Best Booster, which is the school PTO, and the money that we earn through the school store among other committee fundraisers we use to fund grants and to enhance the student experience at the school,” Donna Young, co-committee chairman of the school store and Bear Boosters, said. “For example, we had excess funds this past year and the Bear Boosters used that money to purchase some new recycling bins as well as a system [that shows the scores in real time] that is being used in the stadium, field house, and PAC, [so] all parents that have students in LZ can view what’s going on in the stadium and the field house and the parents can see their students live from their computers.”

The school store helps students and faculty show school spirit in more ways than one, but their emphasis on the details within the store itself also claw through to LZ’s hearts.

“We do come up with a new design every year, but it’s not always on the same article of clothing,” Young said. “For example this year we had a new dry fit Men’s shirt that was different from last year and we also have a new gray hoodie. We keep things that are good sellers and replace items that are no longer coming off our sale racks.”

Josh Dunn, freshman JV football player, said he mostly buys his school gear on the Bear Boosters online store, but he has seen the store in action during his lunch periods and notes how the volunteers always look to be working hard regardless of their other responsibilities outside of volunteering.

“ I was working full time before I had my daughter then I went to part time and that ended about seven years ago,” Young said. “My job is to take care of my family and my household and being a volunteer [contributes] to that.  I just want to make sure I do my part to enhance my children’s experience and the overall experience for the high school. I like to consider myself a professional volunteer.”

After the work put into creative new shirts and having the funds to give free shirts away, these workers go home to their families with the reward of a successful day, Young said.

“All of the parents who work for the school store are volunteers,” Young said. “Our volunteers work at the school store enjoy working with the students and helping the school so that we can increase school pride and better the school with the funds we gain from the store sales.”

Dunn believes that the parent volunteers have helped the school more than he had previously known.

“It’s awesome that [the parents] are volunteers and that they would take their own time to do something like that,” Dunn said. “We really need more people like that in the school willing to work without pay and help the school because they want to.”