CAFFEINATED LIFE SKILLS
Coffee shops teach special ed students responsibility and confidence By Kelly Hagen, kelly.hagen@ndunited.org
Most people know, if you’re looking for a boost during your daily life, coffee is always a great option. And so it’s probably not a surprise that special education teachers in North Dakota, who are looking for a way to boost life skill knowledge for their students, are turning to coffee. More specifically, to selling coffee to students and teachers, in schools in Bismarck and Minot. At Legacy High School in Bismarck, North Dakota United member Pam Aadnes works in special education. And she had been talking with her colleagues for the first few months of school during the 2016-17 year about the concept of project-based learning for her students, by letting them run a coffee shop in their school. “We talked a lot about it in November, December,” Aadnes said. “We talked and we planned, and OK, we just have to do it. It’s improved every week, as far as efficiency and customer service. You just had to start …” At the start of the project, Aadnes had to pull together resources, from the school and the community, in order to get her “Saber Sips” shop up and running. “I got a $50 grant at Sam’s Club, starting off,” she said, “and we borrowed some money from the Bank of Pam, and we kind of grew from there. Our administration has been really supportive, and they think this is awesome because it’s project-based learning and all those things that go with Legacy High School. We had mod schedules, so we have bigger blocks of times sometimes when kids don’t have class, so it’s worked well with that, too. To really get things percolating, though, she needed to find a cart that would work. “The janitor kept coming out and saying, ‘Pam, that cart you’ve got is not that strong,’” she said. “I’ve been a member of the Council of Exceptional Children for many, many years, and 20
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