Marketing students use their skills to help Gilbert schools

The new logo and tag line that will soon be seen on about 400 Gilbert Unified School District food and nutrition employees’ work shirts was designed by two Gilbert High School marketing students.

And Mesquite High School marketing students will soon be selling two new products on campus: 100 percent fruit juice slushes and beef jerky.

These are just two examples of how the Gilbert students are gaining real-world experience by working with the district’s food and nutrition department.

Gilbert High advanced marketing seniors Jessica Nguyen and Jena Esquivel designed the new logo and tag line after the department approached the marketing students for help.

The logo shows an abstract, contemporary-looking apple with the words “Nutrition and Education: Partnering for Success.”

It will appear on the department’s marketing materials, along with the employees’ shirts, said Patty Narducci, supervisor for secondary schools with the food and nutrition department.

“It’s a very professional look developed by these amazing students,” Narducci said. “We wanted to identify ourselves by a separate icon, but still coordinate our tag line into the district’s, which is 'Expect Success.’ ”

The class assignment was a way for the students to learn about branding and creating logos, said Steve Mulhearn, Gilbert High’s marketing teacher.

“When they find out this is really going to happen in the real world, it definitely creates excitement,” Mulhearn said. “They can see the difference that it made. For years to come, their logo will be there. They didn’t just learn about it. They can do it.”

At Mesquite High, Chris Williams wanted to get his two marketing classes off and running, so he suggested the students come up with ways to improve the spirit store. The marketing students surveyed the school and researched nutritional items they could sell.

The marketing students decided on the juice slushes and beef jerky, and are working with the food services department to sample vendors and buy the items for the school. The students will then sell the items on campus starting in the next month, and use the proceeds for a future business trip to New York to tour the financial district, Williams said.

“I want these kids to really take ownership,” said Williams, who also teaches business internship classes at Mesquite. “They had to find a niche, look for things that would taste good, and figure out a price.”

Narducci said by tapping into the local resources, her department can use the “extremely intelligent and capable” students in the district.

“They’re our customers and our clients, and integrating them into our department is important to us,” Narducci said. “I was just really amazed and astonished at the ability of the students, and their enthusiasm.”