“”It’s Friday morning before the school day begins. Northside Elementary Principal Laura Huber walks down the hallway leading to room 129 in the Coulee Montessori wing. When she arrives, she unlocks the door. Inside are two carts, both loaded up with all of the fixings for a tiny business on wheels.
School staff start to arrive, followed by two students. Fourth-graders Grant Reineking and Sam Delimat make a beeline for the mini cafe on wheels. Every Friday morning is a coffee cart morning. Grant and Sam push the carts into the hallway, the first stop of the day. They get prepped to open. Setting up the two flavors of MOKA donated coffee, cups, creamers, sugar and all the fixings. The second cart contains additional morning fuel, donated by Kwik Trip – fruits, muffins, cheese, and various other snacks. Once ready, the first customer turns the corner in need of that caffeinated greeting.
“The kids from our Student Leadership Team (SLT) came up with a business plan and worked with the owner of MOKA to develop the coffee cart as a successful student-run endeavor,” said Northside teacher Kyle Allen. “The SLT decided to donate all weekly proceeds to our Community Resource Room here at Northside, which provides a variety of food, clothing, and hygiene items to our families who may need a helping hand.”
The mission of the Student Leadership Team is to be the eyes and ears for the students of Northside Elementary/Coulee Montessori and to come together to improve the school and community for everybody. The goal of the coffee cart project is to provide students with an experience that embodies everything SLT represents. Students learned how to work together on an idea that helps kids and families and turn it into a reality, how to find and encourage help from others to move their idea forward, and to always have a positive purpose behind what they do.
“We help make decisions for our school,” said fourth-grader Grant Reineking. “We are a voice for Northside and Coulee Montessori kids and we’re here to make things better for all the kids and families at our school.”
After five weeks of running the coffee cart, the Student Leadership Team has raised nearly $300 for the Community Resource Room.
“This business has taught us a lot about being part of the community and being able to help others with even a small idea like selling coffee,” said fourth-grader Sam Delimat. “We also learned that no one buys cheese in the morning and that we need to have one Diet Mountain Dew on the cart for Mr. Larry (Dean of Students) because he just doesn’t like coffee.”””””[vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”0″ images=”16680,16675,16684,16678,16679,16676,16682,16677,16681,16683,16686″ img_size=”625×417″]””
