The launch of the coffee cart program
Friday mornings have become a little more exciting on the campus of Pentucket Regional Middle High School this fall with the grand opening of the Connections Cafe in the dining commons of the school. The coffee cart is part of a new and unique partnership that focuses on job training skills for students in the Connections/Visions program and links them up with other high school students who are taking business classes and preparing for the DECA competitions this spring.
This program is part of the focus on life skills and workplace training opportunities for students Post Grad students and HS Students in Connections/Visions Program. It has become an overnight success with occasional guests, such as the patrol officers with the local police departments and even some parents stop by on Friday mornings. Mostly though, it provides a great start to the morning for the staff at Pentucket with coffee and a muffin while showcasing the students skills as they take pride in their work.
Employment training is a crucial part of a high school program for students who are part of a life skills program. According to Easter Seals, unemployment among those with disabilities is three times higher than the general population and training is one of the key protective factors for future employment.
One of our challenges as a district with finding authentic job training experiences for students is that the district is mainly in a residential area. Opportunities for workplace or industry training are limited. So when the opportunity for a school based enterprise came up, it made perfect sense to develop the program and make the best use of the in-house resources and partnerships.
The Coffee Cart provides the students with an opportunity to learn numerous workplace skills. The district invested in multiple commercial grade pieces of equipment to ensure the students had an authentic experience that could be similar to the level that a food service industry employment opportunity would expect.
With the new equipment and the students also preparing a selection of baked goods using the kitchen that is part of their classroom, the students have started to learn various food prep skills along with various management skills. The routines have also helped and they have generally followed the schedule below:
On Monda & Tuesday - count inventory and decide ordering needs
Thursday- Bake muffins, package muffins, make iced coffee
Friday Mornings- Prepare hot water, coffee, set up coffee cart to get ready for business
And of course, no business opportunity occurs without money management as well. The point of sale cash register that was purchased replicates a modernized digital system where the students can use the programmed cash register. How to use a register, giving change, counting money, including the revenue and expenses sheet they are learning about and completing on Friday afternoons, has helped them to realize that there are many different aspects of a workplace where they could excel.
“I love working at the cash register. It is fun to count money and give customers change.” - Julia Murray, Visions program student
Customer Service
The most important set of skills, and of course the ones where the students are shining the most, are with the customer service skills. While working on their communication skills by taking orders, greeting customers and meeting their needs, some highlights have emerged. The students are starting to remember “regulars” and their orders. To the delight of many staff in the building, this is the personal touch that makes a neighborhood coffee shop feel like a part of people’s lives.
Laura Thibeau, one of the Visions program students stated, “I always love going out for coffee but now I would like to work at a coffee shop.”
Victoria Feudo, another student in the Visions program, added, “I have learned that customers have different opinions on how to make coffee. Some like syrups and some like their coffee black. The caramel coffee seems to be the most popular for the staff at the school.”
Victoria, seeing a need for atmosphere, added music and she noted how much the students and staff appreciated the added feature. Now muffins and morning coffee feel just like a high end coffee shop with calming tunes or songs for the season playing in the background.
When asked about some of the most popular items from the cafe that staff are ordering, Nicholas Hayes, a student in the Visions program stated, “The chocolate chip and blueberry muffins are popular.”
The staff who teach and support the students in the Connections and Visions programs, Ms. Cara Wilson and Mr. Steve Derro, have fully embraced the program and integrated it into their various skills and concepts that they work to teach the students.
“I have enjoyed watching the students take skills that we have been working on for several years and seeing them apply them in a safe environment with feedback and support from the staff. I am most proud of the entire group to show their excitement and enthusiasm to take ownership and apply real life skills. If we don’t have school scheduled on a Friday, the students are asking to do it on a different day.” - Ms. Wilson, Connections/Visions Program Teacher
Partnerships - Even more opportunties for students
With any new venture or program, partnership is one of the key ingredients. For a school program to take this project on, the district turned to their food service provider, Chartwells Food Service and the district director, Tony Manfredonia, who offered up some advice on food safety and handling but also what equipment would be needed and how the program should go about purchasing the commercial grade equipment.
To operate like a business, who better to consult and partner with than our high school business classes and club - DECA. For students involved in DECA, this provided a great opportunity to apply principles they were learning to a real life situation and a few students took it on as a written project for competitions. Luke Zavaski is a junior in the Intro to Business class and is the Treasurer with DECA while in his 2nd year with the club. Joining Luke are fellow juniors, Aidan Blot, who is in his 2nd year with DECA and Lisibel Soto, who joined DECA just this year.
Luke’s cousin is a student in Danvers in DECA and did a written project last year which led him to the National DECA Competition in Orlando. This prompted Luke to search for a topic for a written paper. He did not need to look far and when discussing his ideas with Haley Hamilton, the DECA advisor and Business Teacher at PRHS, Luke saw the perfect project for him and his peers. He worked with Ms. Hamilton on various options and the suggestion of the new coffee cart project as a school enterprise and workplace training program made perfect sense for Luke.
His DECA category is Career Development, which typically has students choosing an approach that focuses on the development of high school students for a career out of high school. Luke, recognized the unique aspect of the new coffee cart to focus on the workplace training of people with disabilities. He teamed up with Aidan and Lisibel for the written project and to document the process of the school based enterprise.
Their approach includes the creation of a video and a poster board. Aiden, an avid film enthusiast, has taken on the filming for the project. The film is a key feature for the DECA competition and will highlight how the concept of a school enterprise, such as a coffee cart, is implemented into a school with a special needs program. The paper was received well at the recent district event and helped them qualify for the state competition later this year in Boston.
“In the beginning, this was a new concept to the students in the program, but I quickly observed how they picked up on the soft skills, people relations and communications that are needed to run a food service enterprise, such as a coffee cart.” - Luke Zavaski, Class of 2025
Beyond the group who took on the project for a written paper, Ms. Hamilton coordinated efforts with the Connections/Visions Post Grad program Teacher, Cara Wilson. Starting such a school based enterprise provided many of the other students in the Intro to Business classes the opportunity to understand marketing and advertising. Other students in the intro business class also helped by creating flyers to promote the grand opening and the students in the program voted on the flyers to use.
Luke has a close relative with a disability which also prompted him to pursue this project. “This has helped me to recognize the strengths that people with disabilities have and can offer in a workplace, especially when they have the opportunity to shine.” - Luke Zavaski, Class of 2025
DECA Advisor and Business Teacher, Haley Hamilton commented,
“When I learned that Connections Cafe was starting at the school, I met with Cara to brainstorm how the Intro to Business/DECA Class could be involved. I thought it would be a great opportunity for both classes to collaborate and work on real world business projects. The business students worked in groups to create marketing materials for the coffee cart, they then presented their proposals to Cara’s class, who picked their favorite advertisement to use for their cart. The students worked really well together and it was great to see their high quality work and their excitement over working together on these assignments.”
Future of program
The initial venture has proven to be a valuable experience for numerous students and programs in the school. The hope is to further the partnerships by inviting guests from other restaurants to help them think about more aspects of the enterprise. This would also be a networking experience as well. There are numerous other ways the program could partner with community organizations, even with our local senior center, to invite some members of the public to come and join on an occasional Friday.
The DECA students will have an ongoing opportunity to conduct a project for competitions that allows them to have a real life and hands-on opportunity to explore school based enterprise. Opportunities within marketing, hospitality, accounting, food service, management, career development and beyond will provide the students with their own opportunity to develop a project that meets their learning needs and supports the school at the same time.
Brent Conway
Assistant Superintendent