Business & Economy

Strange Matter Coffee comes to East Lansing

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Popular, local coffee chain Strange Matter fills the space left by Biggby at the MSU Student Union. 

“I’m excited to have another non-MSU food option at the Union,” said Grace Densham, an MSU undergraduate. “I’m especially pleased with the fact that it is a small, local business. It was really sad to see Biggby go and be replaced by vending machines for so long.”

Strange Matter owner Cara Nader, understands the difference small businesses can make. “We are small, but very efficient at what we do,” she said. “I can’t speak to other coffee shops in town, but we pay a livable wage.

Education

Lansing Tech High School set to open fall 2023 

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Enrollment for the new Lansing Tech High School has begun according to an announcement made at the April 6, school board meeting. 

The school will be held at a familiar building in Lansing that has been home to other career and technological education (CTE) programs.  

“We have this great resource here in Hill High School that hasn’t really been utilized and it’s a large footprint. And I’m really happy that the district is in the position where we can reinvest in this resource that not only helps the community, but also helps our students have another path towards being successful once they leave our district,” Rachel Willis, LSD board president said. 

The Hill is a vocational center known for training students firsthand and giving them confidence for their future, which is the goal for the new high school. “… we know that having children learn academics is incredibly important, but we also know that so many kids wanna have life skills, they wanna have job opportunities, they wanna be able to get their hands dirty, really dig into incredible learning opportunities…,” Ben Shuldiner, LSD superintendent said. Lansing is already a CTE district, so this addition will be more career based. 

“Reading, writing, arithmetic, ELA, math scores, all of that’s important. It is equally as important that we have career technical ready students,” Willis said.  

The Lansing school district notices that most CTE programs are only available to upper class students, overlooking 9th-graders.

Education

Vision to Learn expands, helps Lansing students see success

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At a recent  Lansing school board meeting the nationwide nonprofit organization called, Vision to Learn was introduced. Dr. Sue Wheeler presented a health and wellness update and gave a presentation on how Vision to Learn will be participating in the Lansing school district. “This year we are expanding our partnership with Vision to Learn… a nonprofit organization that provides onsite vision screening, vision exams and glasses for students who need them,” Wheeler said. “All are at no cost to our families.

Business & Economy

How COVID inspired and helped owner revive his business

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In March of 2020, COVID-19 made its way to the United States causing an economic downturn. This impact caused about 15.9% of small business revenue to decrease in Michigan within five months of the initial outbreak. 

For Aaron McClinton, owner of MaCnificent Photo Booth, the pandemic helped his small business grow into a one-stop shop. 

McClinton started his photography business in 2019 right before the pandemic. 

“I was just starting to get my feet wet,” McClinton said. 

Once the virus spread and forced his business to shut down, McClinton became discouraged. 

“I almost gave up … it was tough. But the passion for it, when you are doing something you love, it is hard to let go of it,” McClinton said. 

His love for photography and entertainment helped him survive the effects of the pandemic while still being able to save his business. 

“When COVID hit, it really humbled me. It gave me a lot of time to think … you felt like you were on top and then you go back down and now I had to get back out, to rebrand myself,” McClinton said. Erica McClinton, Aaron’s sister, and business partner had the opportunity to watch him transform his business during these unforeseen times. 

“When COVID hit he kept thinking of different ideas … of what he could do to grow the business.