Miami Palmetto Senior High’s student-led company, supported by the Junior Achievement Program, Strictly Panther Business, gives students the opportunity to learn about business involvement while spreading school spirit. 

“I joined Strictly Panther Business wanting to learn more about what it can be like to be a part of a team while running a business, and as well as to apply this experience to my future,” MPSH junior and SPB social media team member Sarah Garcia said.

In November, the operation started to come together as students and their sponsor, Mylene Exposito, took the time to create a business they thought current and future MPSH students would enjoy. Members began by selling stickers of the “P-Nation” logo for one dollar each. After seeing the major success of the stickers, they began selling lanyards. The new lanyards currently sell for three dollars each.

“We decided to sell stickers and lanyards because they are small ticket items that can give us a good margin of profit. We also felt as though lanyards have a great variety of uses, specifically geared for hanging ID’s. The stickers are an easy way to show school spirit as they can be put on cars, laptops, water bottles, and many more. They are inexpensive, which allows for a larger target audience as well,” MPSH senior SPB co-CEO Tara Llorente said.

With building this business, these Panthers also wanted to support a local foundation: the Coral Restoration Foundation, which helps restore Florida’s coral reefs by using fragments of the coral to create coral trees. In doing this, the foundation creates colonies that can be planted in less than a year. This organization has restored over 17,000 square meters of Florida’s coral reefs. Strictly Panther Business donates a portion of their profits to further support them in their endeavors. 

“We try to go and sell as many of our quality products as we can out to the student body and to parents, basically anyone who is a Panther and to possible future Panthers. Not only this but to donate a portion of our products to The Coral Restoration Foundation to help support their cause in bringing back our coral reefs,” Garcia said.

These students dedicate time to this company to reach their goal of selling all of their merchandise and helping Florida’s coral reefs. If interested in purchasing stickers and/or lanyards, purchase from a member or visit room 1138. 

“Our goal as a company is to sell out of all inventory ordered, but besides that our goal is to continue running this company efficiently. Each team member joined this class to gain a more detailed, and realistic understanding of what it takes to run a business. Our goal is to end this school year with more knowledge of business ownership than we walked in with,” Llorente said.