Every year, the Alternate Curriculum Program partners with Scooter’s Coffee to bring coffee into classrooms for teachers. Emails are sent each week, and teachers fill out Google Forms to get their coffee during class.
This program has seen great success in previous years. Every week, around 20-30 teachers a week would get coffee delivered to their classrooms by ACP students and teachers. The coffee comes at a reduced price as well, coming in at $2 for a warm drink and $1 for a cold drink, giving teachers the opportunity to support the program while getting their morning energy.
“As an extension of our ACP courses, the Wildcat Café coffee cart helps our students gain hands-on experience with vocational and life skills,” ACP teacher Sara Wiese-Johnson said. “Part of our ACP student curriculum includes our Work Introduction Network, Fundamentals of Math, Fundamentals of Daily Living and Fundamentals of Independent Living classes.”
The students also love helping with the coffee cart program. For them, it’s a great alternative to learning how to go about selling products to customers in an environment that’s comfortable for them.
“We go and sell to whomever name is on the list, say good morning, ask what they ordered and give them their coffee, and then end with our slogan, ‘have a nice day,’” senior Nina Mills said. “We love helping. We get to wear aprons with our names on it.”
The ACP also does special catering events for teachers who request it, where the students and teachers will put self-serve stations in their classrooms. All the money that is made from ordering the coffee is brought back to buying more coffee or helping the ACP as a whole.
“The money goes back to the program for name tags, carts, and products,” ACP teacher Nicole Schwalbach said. “With Scooters, we purchase their beans as well as their cups, lids, and aprons. The students have done some training with Scooter’s lingo as well.”
As the year continues, these students will continue to deliver coffee to teachers and have their classes run smoothly with all the espresso they need to teach throughout the day. All while the ACP students learn valuable vocational and fundamental skills.
