Shaker Schools Foundation
Serving Up Coffee
With a Side of Life Skills
Every week, the students in the multiple
disabilities class at Shaker Heights
High School make and sell coffee to
staff members throughout the building.
The Shaker Schools Foundation helped
secure funding from the Veale Youth
Entrepreneurship Forum for the coffee
cart equipment and supplies. The students
supply the smiles. The financial literacy
students also provided support to this
entrepreneurial initiative.
Intervention Specialist Kim Roberts
helped launch the venture last year as
a way to bolster the skills her students
will need when they leave the High
School. Those include math skills, taking
inventory, and communication skills.
On coffee cart days, Roberts’ students
know to check their assignments and grab
their aprons as they get ready to deliver
coffee, tea, Danishes, and muffins to their
customers. They rotate jobs as greeter,
server, barista, cashier, accountant,
stocker, custodian, and manager.
“The one thing they love more than anything is delivering and interacting with the
teachers and staff,” says Roberts. “The goal is for them to use these skills in a real life
setting some day.”
The coffee cart has been a big hit with staff members at the High School, many of
whom look forward to their special deliveries.
“The kids do a great job. And they deliver! The coffee is great and I live for my
Tuesday and Thursday Danish,” says Marian Steenbergh, an accounting specialist at
the High School.
To see more of the Foundation’s mission in action, visit shakerschoolsfoundation.org. SL
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