The snack, beverage and coffee carts have been a stable of some school hallways, and currently seven Lakota school buildings feature them.
The student-run coffee carts offer a variety of drinks and snacks to staff.
Two of Lakota’s oldest coffee cart programs started at high schools, said Lakota officials.
Lakota East High School in Liberty Twp. has been running for 10 years to help provide an opportunity for students to develop vocational and social skills.
Ellen Bowmann, a special education teacher at East, said the students in her coffee cart program “are learning skills such as how to make eye contact, ask questions, and respond to questions.”
Their counterparts at Lakota West High School in West Chester Twp. started their cart six years ago — naming it “Firebird Coffee” after the school’s mascot.
Lakota West instructional aide Karen Ferguson said the cart serves up a lot more than just coffee and snacks during the school day.
“We have a few teachers that don’t order anything from us. They just want to talk to our students,” said Ferguson.
At Liberty Early Childhood School, the cart is run by students who work with Kirsty Rae, the school’s speech therapist.
Rae said that the cart provide a real-world situation for her students to practice their speech.
“Students who work on articulation get to practice their sounds by taking orders; others who work on sequencing and following directions get to practice by making the drinks.”
Caroline Slone, the school psychologist, said, “Not only do I think the speech coffee cart is an amazing way for students to practice their speech goals in a new setting, but it makes my day to see how much fun and pride the students have with it.”
While some carts have been around for quite some time, “Wake Up Wolf” at Woodland Elementary just got started this school year.
Lakota officials said students and staff spent the first part of the year planning and coming up with fun items like t-shirts and aprons for the students to wear. If a teacher would like to have the coffee cart stop by, they can place a special magnet on their door to signal the cart to stop.
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