Sparta — If you find yourself in need of a little get-up-and-go next time you’re at Sparta Middle School, students in the autism spectrum disorder classroom have just the thing for you.
The ASD students recently embarked on a new enterprise: a coffee shop, located right in the middle school, where they’re developing skills ranging from communication to customer service.
Neuro Brew Coffee — its name a nod to neurodivergence — is the coffee, sandwich and smoothie cart run by students in Ashlyn Mol’s classroom. The shop launched in mid-February with the help of a grant from the Sparta Education Foundation.
The coffee shop operates Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings; orders are placed the night before, and when students arrive in the morning, they get to work filling them, under the guidance of Mol and her teaching assistants.
SNN stopped by just a few days after the shop opened to get an up-close look at the operation.
Some of the students are a bit media shy, while others are non-verbal, but sixth-grader Ben Abid was happy to break it down.
“We sell smoothies, hot chocolate (and) coffee (to) whoever orders them,” Ben said. “We use a coffee cart to bring everyone their coffees, and anything else, too. We take it to them.”
The coffee orders go to teachers at this point, because “coffees are for grown-ups,” Ben noted, but it’s possible that hot chocolate might be available for students sometime in the future.
‘This is a perfect way for them to count change back, be able to say please and thank you — it’s just good life skills for them.’
— ASD classroom teacher Ashlyn Mol
Learning Life Skills
Mol, who took a break from supervising to chat about how the Neuro Brew Coffee came to be, said it’s all about teaching students skills to make them more successful, independent and confident.
“In the ASD room, we’re not necessarily doing traditional academics — we’re definitely doing more of the life skills, trying to get them prepared for post-secondary,” she said. “This is a perfect way for them to count change back, be able to say please and thank you — it’s just good life skills for them.”
Mol said the idea for the coffee shop came from her days as a teaching assistant with Evart Public Schools. That district had a similar setup: a student-run smoothie cart that was much loved by students and teachers alike. Mol jumped at the opportunity to duplicate the program in Sparta.
Her vision was brought into focus by a $2,500 donation from the SEF, which helped purchase smoothie-makers, coffee-makers, an ice-maker and other supplies.
Money from coffee sales will keep the shop running, and will also fund future ASD classroom field trips, Mol said.
Though it’s just starting out, the coffee shop is already a hit in the middle school community.
“We have had so much staff buy-in; it’s been amazing,” said Mol. “Sparta is just a family-based school anyway, but anything we do like this, there’s just a huge buy-in from staff.”
Brett Lemieux, one of Mol’s teaching assistants, said the students have enjoyed running the shop so far. Participation has been high, he said.
“Giving them an activity to do is really good for them. They’re learning skills; they’re running the coffee machine; they’re delivering the food; they’re collecting the money; they’re counting the money,” Lemieux said. “Obviously there are a couple kids that struggle more than others, but for most of them I think it’s been really good so far.”
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