Students in the Comsewogue School District’s life skills program are gaining work experience without leaving their high school by volunteering at a coffee shop nestled within its hallways. The District recently hosted a ribbon cutting to celebrate the grand opening of its Brew Crew Café, which opened earlier this month and gives life skills students an opportunity to support the operations of a coffee shop on a regular basis while learning valuable skills that can transfer to potential employment in a variety of settings.
“The creation of our Brew Crew Café came from a culmination of efforts to give our life skills students an opportunity to gain real-world skills while they are still in high school. We’ve seen an incredible amount of support for this by our staff and students alike. This wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and vision of everyone on our staff who brought this to life,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer Quinn.
Last year, the District launched its efforts to give life skills students work experience through a partnership with the local Chick-Fil-A in Port Jefferson. Since then, life skills students have been volunteering on a regular basis to support the daily operations at Chick-Fil-A. The goal of the Brew Crew Café is to bring that experience to Comsewogue High School, where students can learn service skills and socialization on a more regular basis.
The Brew Crew Café is part of the District’s efforts to equip students in the life skills program with education and skills that can be transferred from their school to their lives in the community. The program is the first of its kind in the District and will serve as a model for future work-based learning programs.
App users: Visit this link to view pictures from the Brew Crew Cafe grand opening celebration.