Homestead H.S. students to make pitch to Walmart

MEQUON -- A group of Homestead High School students have been studying how pillows get from the factory to people's homes, and now, they're going to Walmart's corporate headquarters to make a pitch. They say there's a better way to move pillows.

Six Homestead High School seniors are headed to Arkansas. They believe they have a plan for Walmart to save money, and help the environment.

Matt Wolf teaches the product development class at Homestead. The students were asked to find a way to create or improve an existing product. The group went to Sam's Club, looking for ideas and came upon pillows.

"We think that pillow packaging is not up to par, and through our studying of these pillows and our visits to Walmart, we figured out Walmart's pillows could use improvement," Homestead senior Peter Schwalbach said.

Finding a way to minimize space without smashing the pillows isn't easy. "They were at the point where they said 'this may not work. This might be the best way to package pillows and we may have to start over,'" Wolf said.

With the help of Milwaukee-based Felins, the students found a way. "Once we saw the picture of the box of the pillows that's 40 inches, then when it's 24 inches, same amount of pillows, it's like 'wow.' We really made an impact," one Homestead student said.

Walmart took notice. After talking online, the students will make their pitch Monday, May 7th at the company's headquarters. "It doesn't matter your age. You can make a difference and that's kind of what we're showing by going down and making this presentation," one Homestead student said.

The product development class has been offered at Homestead High School for 15 years. It's made an impact too -- a previous group of students designed a lock that's currently used by Master Lock.