School Cafe: Special Education Students Brew Success

E. HOLMES DISTRICT — While maybe not quite what J.S. Bach had in mind when he composed “The Coffee Cantata,” piping hot cups of java are bringing smiles to the faces of staff and students at Berlin Elementary, making “Manic Monday” a little less so at the school every week.

On Mondays and holidays, students in Marjorie Lohnes' special education class are transformed into little baristas, serving up hot beverages made to order.

They've been operating a mini cafe, using a coffee cart to make deliveries throughout the building, since Halloween, said Lohnes. Cost is by donation and, thanks to donations of all starting materials, including a Keurig coffee maker, the venture has generated more than $100.

By a vote of the class, at the end of the year, all proceeds will be split

They look forward to it,” she said, adding, “It has given them ownership of something in the school. Just to be visible … it shows they might have disabilities in some areas, but they're also very able in others.”

Duties — write names, water refill, run Keurig, cream and sugar, deliver drinks — are divided and often shared by two or three students. “They love to run the Keurig and deliver the coffee,” Lohnes

The hardest part of the job, she said, is pumping the creamer.

Her mother recently told Lohnes that when the family got a Keurig at home, it was Autumn who taught them how to use it.

Ethan Jones said he most enjoys writing names on cups, just like in a real coffee shop. “I actually get to do something,” he said, noting none would recognize his handwriting and contribution to the effort, except his mother, a customer of the program and teacher at the school.

Because the group already has reached its initial goal of $100 in sales, Jones spent a little time contemplating Lohnes' next challenge — how to increase