By Megan Sulak, staff writer 
Students hear “smile!” a tremendous amount while taking a student picture. Fixing their hair or making sure their shirt is done as well, all for the perfect picture that will later end up on a student ID, a card used to get into the building and getting into football games. A card that might seem like it has limited use but helps more than they know.
A student ID, believe it or not, can help students get discounts from different restaurants and stores. There are more than 60 student discounts in Illinois, such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Dairy Queen and AMC Theaters.
Each student discount varies from store to store, but getting a free drink at Chick-Fil-A, with a purchase of a food item might be worth checking into.
While some discounts are pointed towards college students, there are enough places that accept high school IDs.
Student discounts can help businesses too, Buffalo Wild Wings General Manager Miker Moser said while it’s not increasing the cash flow to the restaurant, it’s helping the population and the popularity.
“When we started noticing our clientele was getting younger, we got away from being known as a bar with food and tried to be known as a restaurant.” Moser said.
Students get 10 percent off food, drinks and appetizers when going to Buffalo Wild Wings. Other locals places to hit are Mount Prospect pools, H&M, and Metra for a discount.
“[Student discounts] are very helpful. I have a job so I know I can go out but a lot of my friends don’t, so they can’t go out and do more things,” Senior Annie Scherer said.
Surprisingly, a majority of students at Prospect don’t use the discounts provided for students. Saving even a couple dollars could help students in the long run, especially if they are unemployed.
Some students that use the discounts hope that more businesses open up to the idea not just for companies to make a student discount, but for certain companies to open their discounts up for high school students.
“I feel like some places are very ordinated with teenagers and they expect them to pay high prices, even though they’re in high school,” Junior Hannah Valpatic said.