Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Catapult continues to grow during fall semester with events and classes

Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Both the retail store and beverage bar are open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Catapult opened last spring to be a learning center for students from various academic departments to work together and learn about how to apply their major in a business context.

"I think it brings a lot in the way of entrepreneurship because there is not very many ways for students to get involved in stuff like this," Ashley Lokey, a fashion merchandising student, said. "Most students don't have a whole lot of experience when it comes to running a store, operating a store, but that might be something that they are looking to do when they graduate, to open their own business."

Lokey added that it was a great way for students to gain real-world experience while still focusing on their education.

"It's great because the art students have the gallery space and they also have the studio space upstairs," Lokey said. "There's the press area over here, there's the 3D printer. There really is something for everybody."

Catapult had a strong opening over the summer, already having over 1,000 customers and hitting over $2,000 in sales. Southeast Missouri State University's business incubator plans to build on this success over the fall semester through hosting more classes and events.

"Over the summer we've just had our practicum for our retail and our internships," Leah Powers, Catapult's operations manager, said. "But now we are going to be hosting a clothing construction course to kind of coincide with the sewing area upstairs. We have the professional practices course from the art department is going to be here on Fridays. Those are also the students who take care of our gallery space. We have an interior design course that will be upstairs, again coinciding with their area. And we have a business class that is going to be meeting here every other week, and they are going to be working with the students in this space by helping generate business plans and producing other marketing pieces."

Lokey was part of the summer semester's practicum, where she and her classmates operated the retail store on a daily basis. This year, she will be the store manager through an internship.

Powers said both the retail and beverage bars picked up business over the summer and that they only expect that to grow as students start coming to Catapult.

"The beverage bar has regular customers in the morning, so that's nice to see the folks coming in," Powers said. "We have a new student who specializes in baked goods, so she has completely redone our snacks. We have gooey butter bars, we have banana nut bread, which I absolutely love, we have cookies, we have little chocolate tarts. She makes really good pieces, and we are working on getting a fall selection of fall-themed snacks."

Powers added that community members and student organizations have also reserved Catapult's rental spaces for their events.

The Catapult staff will also host their own events over the course of the next semester, including continuing education classes, sewing "boot camps" and holiday crafting classes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

On Sept. 12, to coincide with family weekend, Catapult will have Coffee Cupping with Kaldi's Coffee, the beverage bar's coffee vendor.

"It's actually going to be hosted by Kaldi's, so they are coming down to do that specifically," Powers said. "You can learn about different coffees from all over the world, taste some different blends and kind of see what it takes to make the coffee."

There are also plans to bring a visiting artist who will host a letterpress workshop and participate in First Friday with the Arts, when participating galleries and businesses are all open from 5 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of every month.

"We are having a student open house during family weekend, so that's the Sept. 11 weekend," Powers said. "We also have our formal dedication on Oct. 16, and along with one of our workshops we're going to be having a little grand opening for the public and kick off our Christmas season in November."

Powers added that to get people to come to Catapult they are introducing a preferred customer program.

"What we have is a punch card," Powers said. "And so we have one for the beverage bar and one for the retail. We are still working out the details of the retail one, but for that one it will probably be that after so many orders, you get a percentage off your next order. For the beverage bar, you can buy five drinks and get the sixth for free."

Catapult is located at 612 Broadway and is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

There are remaining student workspaces available. Students interested are to contact Powers at lepowers@semo.edu or one of the faculty members involved with the site.

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