- April 25, 2024
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Matanzas Principal Kristin Bozeman and Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt get ready to cut the ribbon on the school's new marketing lab. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas DECA chapter officers: Casey Schagen, vice president for career development; Christa Koehler, vice president for marketing; Natalie Plambeck, president; and Lexi Hixon, vice president of leadership. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The brainstorming area in the Matanzas marketing lab. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The boardroom area in the Matanzas marketing lab. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Office space in the Matanzas marketing lab. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Managers at the Matanzas DECA chapter's On Deck coffee shop Natalie Plambeck, Christa Koehler and Casey Schagen. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas Principal Kristin Bozeman and Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt struggle with dull scissors to cut the ribbon on the Pirates' new marketing lab. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas High School Assistant Principal Sara Novak remembers when the school’s new marketing lab was an over-stuffed storage room.
“You couldn’t even walk in,” she said.
On Thursday, April 13, Matanzas hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the lab which replicates a business office for the high school’s marketing and finance programs as well as the school’s DECA chapter.
“I’m really excited to put it into use,” said Julie Davis, Matanzas’ marketing instructor and DECA advisor. “All year, I’ve heard, ‘When are we going to use the fancy room?’”
The lab consists of four connected areas — a waiting area, a boardroom, an office space and a brainstorming area — designed by Flagler Schools Coordinator of Innovation Joey DiPuma and his team.
“We designed it in zones,” DiPuma said. “We have an introverted area, an extroverted area and collaborative areas, because everyone has their own learning styles and their own work styles.”
Jeremy Ossler, Matanzas’ Career and Technical Education coordinator, said the lab was more than five years in the making.
“We modeled this after Stetson University’s Centurion Sales Program,” he said. “We visited them several times in their College of Business Administration, and then we took that to model this space.”
The lab provides an interactive space for students in Matanzas’ three-year marketing and finance programs. The students will use the lab to train and prepare for their certification is Salesforce, “which is highly used in the industry and is very popular,” Ossler said.
Students who complete the program will also be eligible for Florida Bright Futures Gold Seal Vocational Scholarships to continue their education in those fields, he said.
“The Centurion Sales Program is a great example of bridging gaps between theory and practice, and that’s exactly the hands-on, real-world opportunity we want to bring to our students at Matanzas,” Ossler said at the ceremony.
Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and Matanzas Principal Kristin Bozeman cut the ribbon on the lab.
“I’m so excited,” Mittelstadt said. “I can’t thank the technology team enough for all of their support to make this happen. The students who are experiencing this, oh my goodness, this is all for you, and I’m just so excited to see the things that come from this.”
Bozeman said educators often hear teenagers ask, “When am I ever going to use this in life?”
To be able to have a space that students can come in and be inspired and feel that vision of themselves in the future working in business and working in marketing is incredibly powerful.” — KRISTIN BOZEMAN, Matanzas High principal
“I don’t think anyone can stand in a classroom that looks like this and wonder when someone is going to use this in life,” she said. “To be able to have a space that students can come in and be inspired and feel that vision of themselves in the future working in business and working in marketing is incredibly powerful.”
The first-year principal thanked her predecessor, Jeff Reaves, who is now the district’s director of teacher and learning, for shepherding the project's progression.
DECA chapter president Natalie Plambeck and vice presidents Christa Koehler and Lexi Hixon spoke at the ceremony.
“This is very exciting to have a space for students to take their education beyond high school.” Plambeck said. “It will let students explore their passion in business and prepare for college and future careers. And we’re excited to have a space like this where we can hold our meetings, plan for competitions, campaigns and also do mock things like interviews.”
Down the hall from the lab in Building 5, is DECA’s “On Deck” student-run coffee shop, which is open three days a week.
"It is truly the students that give ('On Deck') life," Bozeman said. "And I’m so appreciative to be in a district and a school where we’re able to make a facility that matches that drive and that passion."
Also attending the ribbon-cutting were Reaves; Assistant Superintendent LaShakia Moore; District CTE Specialist Adam Blair; and staff members of the Flagler County Education Foundation, whose former executive director, the late Joe Rizzo, helped cultivate and support the project.
“To see what this room has turned into is pretty amazing,” Novak said. “The best part is the kids’ excitement. They want to do work outside in real life and not just doing projects that stay in school.”
