More than 50 teens took over the Oak Harbor Safeway Wednesday, during an annual event designed to give students a look at the store’s inside operations.

The event, “Safeway Takeover” was organized by Oak Harbor High School’s DECA program. The class includes students with an interest in marketing, management and entrepreneurship.

Students shadowed store managers, created cakes in the bakery and worked side-by-side with Safeway staff.

“We saw behind-the-scenes, such as what it’s like to make a schedule,” junior Laurrin Bates said. “It’s a lot.”

Safeway is a national sponsor for DECA, and students organized the first takeover last year. Teacher Eric Peterson said it gives teens the hands-on experience of running a grocery store, which can’t be learned from a book. And it gave the business-minded students ideas for after-school jobs.

“I can go in already knowing what to expect,” Derrick Clarit said.

The students also offered a cake walk to store customers and collected donations for the March of Dimes.

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