Oshkosh Area School District buys a food truck and creates a mobile classroom
OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) - The Oshkosh Area School District is rolling out a new “classroom on wheels.” The customized and fully accessible food truck is operated by students receiving special education services.
With the cut of a ceremonial ribbon, the school district’s Brewing Futures Mobile C.A.F.É. is officially open for business.
“The first-of-its-kind mobile classroom and community asset,” Superintendent Bryan Davis said, “and when I say first-of-its-kind, I mean first of its kind in the country, so this is a big deal here.”
The unique concept came from three staff members.
“They came to my office with this wild idea,” Linda Pierron, director of special education for the school district said, “‘We want to take this show on the road’ is what they said. I said, ‘Tell me more.’”
The thought was to expand their successful high school cafés and take them out into the community... on wheels.
“This unique mobile classroom will not only provide students with special needs real-life working opportunities but will also allow them to engage with our community in a meaningful way to showcase their employability skills,” said Davis.
“All it takes sometimes is a tweak of the environment or a change of a direction and it just makes a difference for these students,” Mary Beth Connors said.
Connors is the transition coordinator for the school district. She helps prepare students with special needs for life after high school.
She says the C.A.F.É., which is an acronym for Coaching Ability For Employment, teaches various skills such as customer service, money handling, order preparation, team building and more.
“We can tell that they have confidence, their speech has grown, their ability to connect, to advocate for themselves has grown, so yeah, we do absolutely see a change,” Connors said.
Two students working in the food truck already received offers for a job interview and employment.
“We knew we needed the community to see the amazing employees and what loyal employees these students are, because sometimes it’s just the perception that we need to break through and that’s what we’re hoping we’re going to do,” said Connors.
About 40 to 50 students will have the chance to work in the food truck, which was made possible with the help of a federal grant.
The Brewing Futures Mobile C.A.F.E. takes requests to travel to different events, such as next month’s EAA AirVenture, allowing students to serve up delicious drinks and pre-packaged and prepared food items and connect with community members. CLICK HERE for the school district’s Brewing Futures website.
Students are responsible for creating each event’s business plan, from a menu to the budget, with help from their peers and teachers.
Connors gets emotional when she thinks about how this on-the-job training is setting her students up for success.
“We want to make sure that everybody understands how much we appreciate the support and the willingness to -- I’m going to get choked up -- to let our dream move forward,” she said.
Action 2 News at 4:30 anchor Chris Roth had an in-depth interview with Pierron about Brewing Futures. You can watch the full interview below.
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