Students’ ‘ugly sweater’ designs brought to life by Subway

FARMINGTON — Two Farmington High School students managed to break the glass ceiling in an annual marketing class challenge and get the attention of two different CEO’s of the Subway franchise with their “ugly sweater” designs.

Students in Nina Merget’s marketing class were instructed to submit a letter via email to the highest-ranked CEO of a brand of their choosing, with an ugly holiday sweater design for that company.  According to Merget, the exercise is designed to help the students learn to write professional emails and to practice their communication skills.

To make it a little more challenging, students couldn’t use the brand name in their design.

“Communication is such an important skill for people to have these days. Employers are looking for it, so I really emphasize communication in a variety of ways,” Merget said.

Senior Vithesh Balla and junior Ethan Croll are enrolled in Merget’s class, but during separate hours, and  each sent a letter to a CEO at Subway with a picture of an ugly holiday sweater they designed.

The letters caught the attention of Subway’s chief operating officer and chief technology officer, who thought their designs were “cool” and the letters were “great” and instructed Paige Hyman, the senior manager of communications and public relations for Subway, to do something special for the students.

Hyman, who is based out of Miami, came through by having their ugly sweater designs brought to life and surprising Balla and Croll with them in the FHS cafeteria on Dec. 19, in front of the district’s superintendent, Kelly Coffin, Christine Meussner, the school’s principal, and other school officials. Subway dignitaries and members of the media and their families were also in attendance.

“Our first thought was, ‘Let’s make the sweaters real and actually deliver them to the kids,’” Hyman said.

Merget said that she has been doing this assignment with her students for the last four years and has sent out approximately 400 letters, including 93 this year, and this is the first time a CEO has responded to emails sent by students.

“It’s so important for students to see that they have a voice in the business world and things can happen even though you’re a high school student,” Merget said.

The timing of the presentation correlated with the school’s ugly sweater spirit day, so many students were dressed to impress in the ugliest holiday sweaters they could find.

Along with the sweaters, the students were also presented with a tote bag containing a Subway track suit.

“My God,” exclaimed Croll, when the principal informed them of the surprise.

“It’s actually amazing,” Croll said of the surprise and his sweater. “It looks so cool in person and I love wearing it.”

To top it off, Hyman then had franchisee Jakki Zirbel, who owns several local Subway locations, including in Farmington Hills, provide the entire school with Subway for lunch. The complimentary lunch included subs, chips, cookies and water.   

“We wanted to show the school that hard work pays off and good work pays off, so that’s why we were like, ’You know what, lunch for everybody,’” said Hyman. “It gives them something tasty to chew on and to learn that class assignments aren’t for not. Pay attention and learn a lot and do well. Whether you’re a high school student or in the business world, putting the time and commitment into doing something can yield a positive result, and that’s really what we wanted to share with them.”

In regard to the emails sent by the students, according to Hyman, more than anything else, the drawings/designs caught her attention.  She said they were “so unique and different” and that they “really captured the spirit of the brand.”

“Coming from someone without a design background, somebody who’s in high school, just starting out, I think is really impressive that that they just employed the creativity to bring something like that to life, and that’s why we thought it was so cool and that we need to do something with this and have to make it happen,” she said.

Zirbel said that the letters from the students made it to the top Subway executives in Miami and “really did make an impact.” She shared some words for the students.

“I don’t know what your headline was on your email, but they both loved them,” Zirbel said. “They shared them at the office and we want to congratulate you guys for making it happen. We loved your sweaters so much that we created them for you. You can keep them, you can wear them, and you can put them on right now.”

Zirbel said her staff at all 10 locations worked through the night, coming in at 3 a.m. to make 1,600 fresh Subway  lunches  in secrecy for the students. They also had their food delivery company deliver 50 cases of water and 50 cases of chips to the high school.

Zirbel said that a U-Haul truck was rented to transport the sandwiches and a manager went from store-to-store to pick up the sandwiches from each location and bring them to the school. She said the sandwiches completely filled the U-Haul.

“We are proud of you and thanks for loving on Subway,” said Zirbel.

Hyman told the boys that both of the CEO’s thought their designs were  “really cool.” She said that she loved Balla’s snowflake design and the “giant” subway logo in the middle, and her favorite thing on Croll’s sweater was the “sandwich with a six pack,” which she called the “whole wheat hero of the story.”

“We hope you rock them around school so everybody knows why they got free lunch today,” said Hyman.

“It’s so cool,” said Balla. “I didn’t really expect anything like this to be honest.”

“This was just an outstanding response, so kudos to you guys on your professional letters and kudos to Subway for recognizing the brilliance of our Farmington marketing students,” Merget said.