Attention teachers: It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. Thanks to the Central Bean coffee cart, Central Middle School’s coffee is being served up hot, fresh and, true to their motto, with a smile.
This coffee shop on wheels is a project created and led by Evelyn Swenson, a school psychologist in Central’s special education program. Swenson, school social worker Avis Fink, and Renee Holt, a special education teacher, had been searching for a way to give their special education students some consistent zvwork experience.
Using Mounds View High School’s coffee cart for inspiration, they applied for a grant through the White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation to get started. Just over $2,000 later, they had a transportable kitchen island, espresso machine and a full stock of coffee beans and tea bags. By March 2014, they were in business.
According to Lisa Olson, a special education teacher at Central, most of the students in the special education program participate at the Central Bean coffee cart program. Each of these students uses their time to develop real-world social skills and practice vocational training for future jobs. To make the experience as real as possible, the students are even interviewed.
Swenson tells of a student, after her interview, whom she told would start working the following Monday. “She was like, ‘I got a job!’ ” says Swenson. “She was just so excited. It’s just very cool. That was worth it all.”
In addition to an interview, students also went through a series of educational training sessions, on topics including how to talk to customers, cleanliness and basic business accounting, where students broke down how much it costs to make the coffee.
“We did as much real-life training as we could with the kids, real work program training,” says Swenson.
Then it was time to start brewing. Now, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, faculty and staff are invited to submit orders online. Drink choices match those of most coffee shops, including lattes, mocha, cappuccino, iced drinks, hot chocolate and tea. Once the orders are in, a team of students prepare the drinks, then deliver them to both the middle school and district center. There are 45 to 50 drinks made every week, each paid for with a pre-paid punch card or with cash.
“It’s very good coffee at a very reasonable price,” says Olson.
Central Bean is doing a lot more than putting out good lattes. Both Swenson and Olson are happy with how well the students have progressed as a result of the program. Many of the students have struggled with social skill development in real-life situations. After some experience at Central Bean, there is usually a marked increase in these skills—and an uptick in self-confidence.
“It provides for them an opportunity to demonstrate some of the skills they’ve learned in the classroom, and to build new skills that they wouldn’t be able to learn in the classroom, such as customer service, some accounting skills and responsibility skills,” says Swenson.
It doesn’t hurt that the students adore it, either.
“They all thoroughly love it. They are so proud of themselves; they take this job very seriously," says Olson. "And when they are finished, they are all smiling and say, ‘I worked in the coffee shop today!’ ”
