Mustangs, if you have ever found yourself missing school supplies, wanting a cute charm for your backpack, or needing a last-minute gift for a friend, the Mustang Market is the shop for you. Yorba Linda High School’s student-led Mustang Market opened on October 16, 2024, and offers products catering to students’ and staff’s wants and needs. It is available every Monday and Wednesday during lunch in the quad, and its employees are happy to welcome you with smiles and affordable prices.
The Mustang Market products include chapstick, hair accessories, school supplies (pencils, erasers, whiteouts, etc.), flashcards, and more. The Mustang Market business team is also developing new merch that echoes this year’s company values: unity, leadership, purpose, and enthusiasm. Check out the image to the left for a complete list of products and prices (subject to change). The Inventory Department has created Mustang Bags as an exciting autumn special edition product, containing scrunchies, a blanket, chapstick, stationary, and more. Each bag costs $8 and includes complimentary candy with each purchase.
Madison Waltemeyer, one of the Mustang Business Academy instructors, works as the business’s CEO alongside the Business Management and Leadership capstone classes to ensure the Mustang Market operates smoothly. As the CEO, she guides the class toward success while handing some reins to her executives and leads as they take charge of their respective departments. Everyone in the class is considered a leader, and Ms. Waltemeyer encourages employees to exhibit responsibility and passion in the work they contribute.
Each department executes its duties diligently and is instrumental in the success of the Mustang Market. The Finance and Accounting Department, led by Megan Tsou, Austin Lawrence, Hayden Hayes, and Grace Peng, manages the budget and plays a pivotal role in cash handling and fundraising. As the main organizer of the storage and kiosk, the Inventory Department, led by Jordan Nguyen, Aanika Mathur, Kaitlyn Lee, and Nathan McAteer, makes many of the decisions regarding product prices, works closely with Finance, and holds the market together.
The Human Resources Department, led by Jennalyn Urquico, Lily Segvilay, Faith Alam, and Vanessa Moscozo, boosts company morale, leads class bonding activities, and reaches out to inspirational guest speakers. Finally, the Marketing and Sales Department, led by Lauren Urquico, Taylor Ditmar, Sydney Chirco, and Ethan Huynh, promotes the Mustang Market through social media and announcements, collaborates with Inventory, and develops new ways to advertise to students and staff. Lauren Urquico (12) shares, “Our priority was to make sure students all over campus knew about the opening. My team did a lot through social media and flyers, using Instagram and TikTok to create posts and reels about the market and revamping the campaign so all teachers and students were aware of the opening.”
This year has introduced a few new challenges, since, according to Ms. Waltemeyer (S), “this is the first year in which the Mustang Business Academy has had two capstone classes. Uniting one class to run a small business like the Mustang Market can be a challenge in itself. Accomplishing that goal with two separate class periods requires even more intentionality. [Although] you can guarantee that there will always be conflict, how you navigate that conflict determines how strong a team’s foundation is. Having two classes with differing personalities and voices can contribute to barriers in communication, but when yielded properly, it can provide innovative problem-solving and productivity.”
While the market has undergone a fair amount of change and development, several ideas will likely take flight in the future. Last year, the focus was on achieving the grand reopening of the Mustang Market; this year, since the market is already established, Ms. Waltemeyer (S) and her students can look towards “adding more value to the capstone course by streamlining their industry certification process, continuing to provide more guest speakers, making the Disney leadership field trip an MBA tradition, and networking with more small businesses in our community locally.”
“I want to challenge my classes to construct some concrete market research and experiment with new inventory and YL merch, find new businesses to collaborate with to raise money, work with ASB to obtain an electronic POS system so we can accept cards, and bring the market to athletic events and other YL community engagements. Beyond any goal of “what” we accomplish, I want to impress upon my students that the “how” and “why” behind the market are equally significant,” Ms. Waltemeyer (S) expresses. She and the capstone classes always strive for continuous improvement and success by upholding the company values and the Mustang Way.
Both Management and Leadership periods are working towards several new and exciting developments in the upcoming months. Stay tuned to see what the Mustang Market has in store, and remember to stop by if there is anything you need to purchase!
