Ralph Nader would be proud to know the consumer activism he helped spark back in the 1960s is alive and well in today’s youth at Kingsbury Country Day School in Addison.
The independent school’s sixth-graders felt ripped off by the flimsy, cheaply-constructed binders their teachers purchased for them, along with the seventh and eighth-graders, last fall at the Oxford Meijer.
‘After about two weeks, they started falling apart,? said Sherry Gelmine, a language arts teacher at Kingsbury, noting the binders were supposed to last the entire school year.
Most of the binders, which cost $18 each after a $2 discount, ended up with broken shoulder straps and zippers, torn interiors, ripped mesh pockets and bent metal rings.
Gelmine suggested the sixth-graders work together to write a letter to the Meijer Corporation expressing their extreme dissatisfaction with the product.
But four creative students in her class took the idea a step further and decided to turn their complaints into a multimedia presentation to be included with the letter.
Sixth-grader Autumn Buysse suggested they create a video in which she interviewed fellow students about their binder problems.
‘They became consumer advocates,? Gelmine said.
Sixth-grader Beatrice Yarema filmed the interviews along with a musical segment during which students performed an original song appropriately titled the ‘Binder Blues.?
Written by sixth-graders Lars Joergens-Kokate and Rory Spence, the song’s lyrics tell their tale of woe ? ‘We got the binder blues. We should tell you the news. About the binder blues. They break apart. They give us broken hearts. We shouldn’t have put them in our shopping carts. We got the blues. We got the blues.?
In the video, Rory played the guitar while Lars led his classmates in song.
The well-crafted letter and innovative video definitely got the attention of the Meijer folks who informed the school their stores no longer carry the products in question and instead sell school supplies made by MeadWestvaco.
Impressed by the students? initiative and creativity, representatives from the Grand Rapids-based Meijer and the MeadWestvaco Corporation, based in Kettering, Ohio, visited Kingsbury on Friday to solicit student input on future school supplies and give them 30 brand new binders, free of charge, plus some other top-quality Mead products.
‘We like to come and talk to students because you’re the ones that use our products. You’re the experts on school supplies,? said Debbie Bowen, a market research analyst for MeadWestvaco. ‘I brought a bunch of binders with me to show you guys, so that you can help us make binders better.?
Students told MeadWestvaco representatives what they needed and expected from their school supplies, giving input on everything from functionality to color choices.
‘It’s great for us to go into schools and get that feedback right from the kids because we need that,? Bowen said.
Gelmine said the whole experience was a great ‘life lesson? for students about the value of speaking up and taking action when they’re dissatisfied with something.
‘They’ve learned that now whenever they have a consumer issue, if they send a formal letter and treat it very seriously, they will get a response,? she said.