Keith Bona, center, speaks to students from the E3 Academy about their new line of products, which he helped them design and which he is selling in his Main Street, North Adams, store.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A group of North Adams teenager who participate in the E3 Academy stormed the streets of downtown North Adams on Wednesday morning spreading one very important message: "It's gonna be a great day!"
That message is part of the second round of "NAMApparel" now being sold by E3's dozen students, having been added to the original "Find It, Love It: North Adams" logo of last year's inagural line.
E3 Academy is a program of Drury High School for over-age, under-credited students at risk of dropping out. On Wednesday, the students donned the new black and copper-colored shirts and visited some downtown businesses to thank some supporters, spread the word about their endeavor and find out what the business owners like about North Adams.
A highlight of this whirlwind tour was entering Greylock Federal Credit Union's Main Street branch and being surprised by seeing the employees wearing E3 T-shirts in a show of unity and support.
Greylock was indeed a supporter of the program, according to Maureen Phillips, a loan officer with the credit union. Phillips said she visited the group to do some financial literacy planning with them and couldn't stop talking about them afterward.
"I was so impressed with them," she said as she walked down Main Street with the group. "They're so engaged. They're bright and well-spoken."
Phillips recruited John Bissell, executive vice president at Greylock, to be part of the effort, and he then guided the students through developing their marketing plan to promote their line of T-shirts, sweatshirts and hot/cold mugs.
"He didn't come and do it for them. He walked them through the process so they can do it themselves," Phillips said. "These guys are stars."
After leaving the Greylock office, the students crossed over to visit Kim Oakes at Shear Madness Salon and presented her with a mug. They made quick stops at the Edward Jones office and the Verizon store before wrapping up their tour at Berkshire Emporium and Antiques, where they thanked owner Keith Bona, who not only helped them with the design of the logo but also is selling the products in his shop.
"What I helped them with is refining it," Bona said, emphasizing that the end result did indeed come from the students' original design.
Abby Reifsnyder, a counselor that works with the students, said that process of going "back to the drawing board" aided the students.
"It was wonderful part of the experience," she said.
Another part of that experience was creating a business plan, which included both short-term and long-term goals. In the short term the groups wants the profits from this first round of merchandise to repay the initial investors and order a second run of the items. A major long-term goal, besides keeping the program going for future E3 classes, is to see NAMApparel merchandise become the official clothing line for the city of North Adams.
That goal came up Wednesday morning as the students chatted with Bona, and Reifsnyder said she was hoping for the best.
"We've made our pitch to the mayor," she said.
In a happy coincidence, two of the E3 students got the opportunity to speak on camera to three students from an Advanced Television class at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, who were on Main Street at the same time doing interviews for a documentary they are working on about the North Adams arts community in the context of economic development.
Poised and confident on camera, E3 student Jason Morin, 18, said he sees the assets of North Adams being its open spaces and willingness to host creativity.
"Every day I see new art," he said. Then he responded to a question about what North Adams would be like without the creative community. "I think we'd be a pretty bland town without art."
That includes art like the new E3 logo, which the students said they had a lot of fun designing.
"It was very exciting, feeling like we're doing something good for the community, sending out a good vibe," said student Mariah Arnold, 17.
And the feeling they got when they saw the finished products? "It was awesome," Arnold said.
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