The emphasis on small businesses combined with a lengthy stay at home during the pandemic  has served as inspiration for Township students to launch their own start-ups. 

Senior Jeneen Sahtout designs and sells jewelry. After owning a small jewelry business in middle school, and subsequently having to stray away from her passions to focus on school, family and herself, Sahtout felt inspired this year to pick up her craft again.

“This year I felt so inspired. I realized I didn’t want to work a boring 9-5 at a job I wasn’t passionate about… I want to be my own boss [and] do something I’m passionate about–something I have fun doing, so work never really feels like work and feels more like an art,” Sahtout says. 

With her inspiration, Sahtout began Gemilah Jewelry, a small business that designs handmade jewelry. Sahtout says her jewelry is meant to bring peace of mind to all customers and at an affordable price. Each purchase also comes with a mini amethyst crystal. 

Though she had the idea for months, Sahtout did not start her business until January 2021 as the logistics, which entailed  gathering supplies and setting up her website, took immense time. Nonetheless, she says that the coronavirus has impacted her business in a positive way due to spending much time at home.

“Being at home gave me time to perfect everything and really invest all of my energy into something I’m passionate about. I personally believe that if it wasn’t for [the coronavirus] I would’ve never started my business,” Sahtout says. 

Being an online student has helped her as well, giving her more time to work on aspects of her business, such as making jewelry and monitoring her website at the same time; however, she mentions that being in-person does have advertising benefits. 

“I do believe if I was in person at school it would benefit my business by being able to advertise by simply wearing the jewelry around and talking to peers about it,” Sahtout says. 

Other students have taken up new ventures during the pandemic. Junior Isabelle Le, owner of Jewelry by Isabelle, also cites online school as a facilitator in creating her small business just last month. Not only does she not have to take time to commute to and from school everyday, but she can also work on her business during free periods as supplies are readily available to her.

Staying at home during the pandemic has inspired  the creation of her business: “I was looking for a hobby to pursue and ring-making happens to be one I enjoy. In turn my business was created,” Le says. 

In what she describes as a low-stress side hustle, the rings are created during her free time and are finished within a two-to-five day timeframe. She hand-makes them out of wire, artificial rocks or beads, and sells each ring for $2.50. In just her first week, she received 42 orders, each of which encompasses an order of rings in a small envelope. The envelope is made out of a sticky note and a sticker, and it includes a handwritten note.

Currently, Le is taking ring orders from her Snapchat Isabelle_0121 from customers in the Lancaster area. All rings are made-to-order and can be fully customizable regarding its type of bead, color, type of wire, and ring size. While orders through Snapchat are  her current method of ordering and distributing her products, she says that she hopes to develop a more organized system in the near future.

“I am very hopeful for the future of my business. It is in its beginning stages at the moment…but I hope to continue making rings on the side for a while as long as there are people interested,” Le says.

Senior River Kott was inspired as an online student to start his own business as well. During his time at home, he began a small business for customized skateboards. Kott paints designs on a blank skateboard with acrylic paint, or he strips the paint from a board and then repaints the board with a custom design.

As an online student, he has been able to spend much of his free time on his art: “I would say [COVID-19] is a reason I started [the business]. With being home so much, it’s nice to do something. … I enjoy painting and doing artwork, so I didn’t think of it as much as a business as just a fun hobby,” Kott says.

Like Sahtout and Le, being an online student has given Kott a lot of  free time to focus on his business. He works on his art after school, during study halls, lunch, and over the weekend. Having just begun his work last month, Kott does not currently have a name for his business. He hopes to grow the business and gain a small following who at least enjoy watching videos of his art on his Tiktok.

“I feel like we all need some reason to smile during this weird year we’ve had. Art makes me smile and I hope to make others smile with my art as well,” Kott says.