Staff Spotlight: Handing out Smiles
Student store advisor, Mrs. “Yo,” overlooks the daily disorder that takes place between hungry students during breaks and afterschool.
March 25, 2015
Affectionately known as “Mrs. Yo,” Shannan Yothers, the DBHS student store manager, is popular among students not only because of her position, but also because of her upbeat personality.
As the manager of one of the school’s hot spots, Yothers deals with the store’s inventory, ordering, and staff, and makes sure the store’s snacks and drinks are “SB12 compliant,” the reason the beloved Munchies snack mix has been taken away. Food guidelines for California schools limit that amounts of fat, salt, and sugar that can be in our snacks.
“I try to find the ‘healthy’ version of the snack that I know is popular,” Yothers said.
Despite her many duties, Yothers makes sure to take time to focus on the social aspect of her job–talking to her staff and students. The store is a popular hangout and is often filled with students who have become friends with Yothrs, whose personality and smile is open and inviting.
“We’re like a little family in here. People come and go and graduate, but I keep in touch with them,” Yothers said.
After working as a paralegal for nine years, a high stress job that required her to work long hours away from home, Yothers decided she needed a change in her life so that she could spend more time with her family. Though her position with the student store is very different from her previous job, Yothers feels as if she was meant to work at DBHS.
“I love working with the kids and interacting with everyone. I love the atmosphere and the positive vibe, people come in here to hang out and socialize,” Yothers said. When she isn’t preparing the store for customers or ordering the schools supply of vegetable chips, Yothers loves to spend time with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. With her family, Yothers goes camping, snowboarding, and to Knott’s Berry Farm, where she has a season pass.
Yothers’ husband is a musician and music producer. Together, the pair occasionally writes music in their home studio.
“Our house is always full of music. We have a pretty active social life, we go out and listen to bands on the weekends,” Yothers shared.
DBHS is one of the only high schools with a walk in snack store, and despite the student store’s popularity, Yothers hopes to expand the store online with a website that showcases the products.
Many students have complained about the prices of the store’s products, but what most people don’t know is that all of the store’s profits fund their favorite campus events.
“A hundred percent of the proceeds we earn here at the student store stay here on our campus. We don’t distribute the money throughout the district. Everything that the students spend here funds our site beautification, our proms, whatever you need on campus,” Yothers stated.
