Author: Gabriel Johnson

“We want to have a sustainable project that is usable for many years in the future.” are the words of Mayla Colacchi and Sydney Jones as they look forwards to the beginning of the third trimester in which they will start the development of the Snack Shack Cross Grade Learning Opportunity (CGLO). Our CGLO is a brand new garden wall which will be built on the westernmost wall of the new La Paz ‘Tenorio’ campus, a new addition of classrooms hosting 6th, 7th, and 8th grade tiburones. The project hopes to provide a layer of insulation to one of the classrooms and make the new campus a little more beautiful.

Sydney and Mayla have been heavily involved with The Snack Shack since the beginning of the year, when they built a brand new revamped Snack Shack sign completely out of recycled bottle caps. “That sign shows creativity and our love and support of the environment” says Snack Shack CEO, Catalina Gutierrez de Valle. The project was completed in January and is praised by many for bringing color to the Snack Shack. Some may even say it opened a door into the sustainable and creative project ideas that Sydney and Mayla have had recently.

The project ties into the Snack Shack Corporate Social Responsibility aspect, which also includes current projects with managing waste, fighting climate change, and raising awareness by using our platform.

Going back to the wall at the Tenorio campus, they are currently hard at work finishing details and refining the project to be perfect. In a recent interview with the pair they reported,

“We’ve noticed that the school more needs student involvement and a more nature focused campus. It was by the likes of sustainable organizations worldwide that we first got the idea for the project. We hope that it should make the school smell and look nice.” Their vision includes reusing plastic bottles, one of the worlds most prevalent garbage items to plant dill, basil, rosemary, and mint in. The bottles will be filled with nutrient rich soil, mixed by the 7th grade anchor project class and then have seeds and plants put inside. The bottles will be put in a custom frame in the wall, assuring that they get plenty of sun and water throughout the year.

Mayla and Sydney have said that they hope that future generations in the store can utilize the resources when making paninis, smoothies, and other fresh products. Also, they are hoping to sell packaged fresh herbs at the feria to collect more money for the Snack Shack.

As we start the third trimester of operations, we hope that the project is successful. If all of our objectives happen than in a mere couple months time, the westernmost wall of the Tenorio campus will be occupied by a brand new Snack Shack sustainability project.

As former United States president, Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” This quote has served as a basis throughout the interview and job assignation process we have gone through over the last few months in The Snack Shack.

As we welcome in our new CEO, Catalina Gutierrez, as well as our CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Rachel Harris, our COO (Chief Operating Officer) Emerson Cliver, our CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Stacy Bustos, and yours truly, CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Gabe Johnson, we reflect on how meaningful the process of selection has been. Starting with our resumes, we learned how to effectively showcase our own skills and accomplishments in a complementary way, specifically one that could help us explain ourselves in our interview. I specifically remember my personal excitement as I crafted my resume, looking up how to make the best resume possible, how to interview, and how to “win” the race of getting the CEO position. Having a solid resume is one of the most important pieces, if not the most important pieces when applying for a job. Knowing how to write an aesthetically pleasing and easily readable resume is a priceless skill.

In our resumes and interviews, we had to demonstrate that we had the potential to be more than a boss. We had to show that we had the potential to be a leader, to drive, to innovate, and to ultimately inspire.

Our interviews were also an amazing experience. Many businessmen and women from around our La Paz community came to the school and interviewed several kids. This was enriching, as each individual person contributed their own specialization and opinions into who could be our leader. We also had to extensively prepare for the interviews, with a lesson, mock interviews, and assignments on how to make an impact on the interviewer.

The experience was both memorable and meaningful, which is one of the most ideal situations in teaching. We learned, but we were also entertained, and not one person questioned the relevance of what we were doing (that’s a first!), simply because we all knew how relevant and useful every lesson and every assignment was.