By Summer Crawford
Staff Writer

Ever wonder where both students and parents are getting the one-of-a-kind spirit apparel that they wear to various Coppell High School sporting events? Well, now you can put the name with a face: Spirit Round-Up is run by Coppell residents Laura Swaldi and Becky Carver.

When Swaldi moved to Coppell from Southlake in 2004, one of the first things she noticed was there was not any spirit wear. Back in Southlake everyone donned green, and Swaldi jumped at the opportunity to bring that same spirit to Coppell with the help of a long time friend.

“I called Becky Carver, who I went to college with, and asked her if she would like to start up a business with me,” Swaldi said. “I knew that Becky would be a good business partner because Becky likes to dress up and wear all the fun stuff, whereas I tend to be interested in the business aspects like paperwork, designs and ordering.”

Swaldi wanted to amp up the sense of spirit and community in Coppell by supplying people with creative spirit wear. Whether it is coming up with a new style of shirt or distributing her current shirts to the residents of Coppell, Swaldi is always on the move, looking to take spirit to another level. Her inspiration comes from online research on popular shirt designs, talking to high school kids, looking for ideas at sporting events or just creating her own designs.

“Coming up with new designs every year is the hardest thing for me because I have to think about what people want to wear, not only what the parents want to wear, but also what the kids want to wear. Not only the high school kids, but middle school kids and the little kids and creating quality clothes for everyone,” Swaldi said. “It is stressful, but at the same time it is fun. My degree is in biochemistry, and this was letting me be really creative.”

Setting up a Facebook page and a Twitter account was the first step towards communicating with customers and promoting her products. Both social media websites help to reach a larger target audience and make the Coppell community aware of Spirit Round-Up. However, many customers have started using their cell phones to place an order, and after a couple of weeks they come by Swaldi’s house with a check to pick up their spirit wear.

Junior Caroline Rogers purchased her own Swaldi shirt after hearing about the company in middle school through Facebook. Rogers went to Swaldi’s house to show her the shirt she was interested in buying. About two weeks later, Rogers had her shirt and a smile on her face.

“I like all the shirt options available because they are so cute and are unique and different from any other type of shirts.  I like how there are many designs to choose from and how there are tank tops, short-sleeve shirts, long-sleeve shirts and sweatshirts,” Rogers said. “It is neat how people just show up at her house. She sets dates for people to come to her house, or you can just walk in. Her door is always open.”

With Coppell being a fairly small community full of tightly knit residents, it is easy for Swaldi to utilize her home as storage place for her products and a pick-up location for buyers. If you pass by the Swaldi house, chances are you will see all sorts of customers going in and out of the front door.

“It doesn’t bother me at all when people come to my house. I am kind of an open book,” Swaldi said. “What you see is what you get. If it doesn’t work out for me at a specific time, I will tell whoever it is to come by at another time. I like to have control of that.”

From orders flooding the Swaldi house to long nights spent scrambling and setting up for upcoming sales or events, Spirit Round-Up deals with all types of situations, and balancing the role of a mother and the leader of a demanding company is not an easy feat for Swaldi. She always sets time aside for her three children, one of whom is senior Holly Swaldi, and makes sure her number one priority in life is not her company, as important as it may be.

“My kids always come first, and anything that they do comes before my company. I try to arrange my schedule with the company around my family’s schedule. I never am not available or can’t participate in whatever activities my kids are involved in,” Swaldi said.

Holly plays a major role in the company, helping out as much as possible and even gives input on the designs her mother is working on. She helps with the communication aspect of the company by posting on the social media pages when there are new sales or new designs. Holly aids in the ordering process since the main customers are high school and middle school students.

“She will show me her designs, tell me all her ideas and ask for advice. It is nice because I can help suggest things because I know what kids like since I am a high school kid. Sometimes whenever she is starting her sales, people will text me and will come to me, so it becomes work for me too because I have to help her sell shirts,” Holly said.

The long journey from 2004 to 2013 for Spirit Round-Up has been a winding road full of joy and positivity. In addition to wanting to bring more spirit to Coppell, Swaldi and Carver help out the community by donating percentages of its sales to booster clubs and organizations, even donating some of their apparel to charity organizations.

To be able to see how Spirit Round-Up has impacted Coppell is truly an astonishing accomplishment for Swaldi. Working side by side with her close friend Carver is a lot of fun for Swaldi. One of their favorite things to do that shows their goofy side is driving through the CHS parking lot after athletic games and seeing hundreds of people decked out in their multi-colored or neon shirts.

“It is great working with Becky because we are like sisters and have a lot of fun running the company. It was not about becoming a business, it was more about being a part of Coppell,” Swaldi said. “Our company brings more spirit to Coppell. When you show up at a game and there are 500 kids in neon tees, it is amazing. It encourages high school students to come together as a community and to show spirit for our team.”

With the sole purpose of having fun and improving Coppell as a whole, Swaldi and Carver have left their mark. There is always something new to look forward to from these two passionate women.

“We will continue the same process until we are not having fun. When it becomes too much work and not enough fun, that is when we will stop. Neither of us do this for the money. It has never been about the money,” Swaldi said. “It has been about having fun with each other and having fun with the community. We know the people that come over, we know their kids, and it is about having a good time.”

With sales and popularity of new designs rising to an all new level, Swaldi’s and Carver’s shirts have transformed the amount of spirit in Coppell from virtually non-existent to a crazed hype. Swaldi has made her wish of creating spirit in Coppell come true. Through hard work and determination, Spirit Round-Up has proven to be a source of positive growth. With plans to make a website and lots more to come in the future, Swaldi and Carver are anxious to get started on their next line of shirts.