Fort Worth ISD high school students run on-campus grocery store to address food insecurity

Lina Ruiz
·3 min read
2

A portable building outside O.D. Wyatt High School full of meat, vegetables and nonperishables opened its doors on Wednesday, making its mark as the Fort Worth Independent School District’s first on-campus grocery store for students and their families.

The store at the high school, located on East Seminary Drive in southeastern Fort Worth, is the fifth of its kind in North Texas that allows students to purchase food at the store through points earned when finishing modules on topics such as anger management, bullying and drug awareness, according to officials. The program, called Together Harnessing Resources to Give Individuals Voice and Empowerment (THRIVE), is designed to build resiliency skills and help students overcome trauma while curbing food insecurity, according to Texas Health Resources, which spearheads the program.

Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Angélica Ramsey, left, talks to O.D. Wyatt High senior Omar Almaraz, 18, during the grand opening of the on-campus grocery store provided in partnership with Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program on Wednesday, January 31, 2024. Almaraz is one of the approximately 10 students that will help run the grocery store, learning real-world and leadership skills in the process.

Ten seniors enrolled in an entrepreneurship class at O.D. Wyatt will work as store employees, stocking shelves and taking inventory during their class period, and then returning after the school day is dismissed to distribute food, said teacher Julie Castellano, who is supervising those students. They were required to complete various trainings to be able to run the store.

“They get their food handling certificate. They get the civil rights training through the state of Texas, and then also their OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) training,” Castellano said.

The Chaparral THRIVE Market on the O.D. Wyatt High School campus has a fully stocked freezer of meat products available to students and their families. The grocery store is the fifth one opened through Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program and the first in Fort Worth ISD.
The Chaparral THRIVE Market on the O.D. Wyatt High School campus has a fully stocked freezer of meat products available to students and their families. The grocery store is the fifth one opened through Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program and the first in Fort Worth ISD.

Brianna Thompson and Dianai Saucedo, seniors at O.D. Wyatt who are running the store, told the Star-Telegram that they were excited to learn new skills while helping families in need. It’s Saucedo’s third year taking the entrepreneurship class, she said, and she enjoys “how they gave me the choice to learn… business strategy, learn how to talk to people better (and) my manners. It covers everything.”

For Thompson, she’s eager to extend kindness to others.

“I think it’s going to help many of us in positive ways,” Thompson said.

Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Angélica Ramsey highlighted the program as a way to provide students with skills and knowledge that they can apply to real-world settings while helping to build generational wealth in the community.

The Chaparral THRIVE Market on the O.D. Wyatt High School campus has fresh vegetables available to students and their families. The grocery store is the fifth one opened through Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program and the first in Fort Worth ISD.
The Chaparral THRIVE Market on the O.D. Wyatt High School campus has fresh vegetables available to students and their families. The grocery store is the fifth one opened through Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program and the first in Fort Worth ISD.

“It provides empowerment to our students. It provides access to healthy options. And it’s going to provide a lot of leadership lessons as well for our students,” Ramsey told attendees of the Wednesday opening.

Food fills the shelves of O.D. Wyatt High School’s new on-campus grocery store on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, in Fort Worth. The grocery store is the fifth one opened through Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program and the first in Fort Worth ISD.
Food fills the shelves of O.D. Wyatt High School’s new on-campus grocery store on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, in Fort Worth. The grocery store is the fifth one opened through Texas Health Resources’ THRIVE North Texas program and the first in Fort Worth ISD.

O.D. Wyatt High was selected because it’s located in a high-need area shown to be disproportionately affected by health challenges, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and food insecurity, according to Texas Health Resources’ 2022 community health needs assessment. The 76119 area code showed one of the highest values in Tarrant County and Parker County for its health equity index, which analyzes six categories associated with poor health outcomes: income, poverty, unemployment, occupation, education and language. Areas with high values are associated with health issues such as preventable hospitalizations and premature death.

O.D. Wyatt High School Principal Armando Gallegos speaks during an event celebrating the opening of Chaparral THRIVE Market on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, in Fort Worth. The on-campus grocery store will provide access to nutritious food for students and their families.
O.D. Wyatt High School Principal Armando Gallegos speaks during an event celebrating the opening of Chaparral THRIVE Market on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, in Fort Worth. The on-campus grocery store will provide access to nutritious food for students and their families.

Texas Health Resources hopes to expand THRIVE into 10 North Texas schools by 2025 through $2.6 million in community and donor support after the program started in the Sanger Independent School District in 2019. O.D. Wyatt has received $260,000 for its program so far.