Big things are brewing at Mon Valley School this year. Two new student-powered programs, MV Roasters and Good Morning Mon Valley, are making a meaningful impact across the school community. While staff members helped design the opportunities, it’s the students who run the show, gaining real-world experience and sharing their talents with the entire school.
Brewing skills, confidence, and community
MV Roasters is a fully functional coffee café, managed by secondary autistic support teacher, Shane Morrissey. The story of the student-led coffee shop has grown over the past few years. What began as a small cart operated solely by Morrissey’s class has evolved into a full-school experience that continues to expand each year. One major change is the coffee cart has moved into a full store front café, open for two periods every Friday morning.
As the program grew, Morrissey and his class opened the hiring process to the entire school. His class developed and led a formal interview process, carefully selecting new student employees. They now have a variety of position titles within the café, and students are trained in each role to ensure they understand the full operation of the business.
The students take real ownership of the café. Each week, they conduct inventory checks to determine what supplies are needed for the upcoming Friday. They research and compare prices online to find the best deals, learning valuable budgeting and decision-making skills along the way.
Leading up to each café opening, students travel throughout the building with iPads to collect orders from staff members who are unable to leave their classrooms during operating periods. The delivery team then prepares and distributes those orders efficiently.
MV Roasters strive to create a welcoming and fun environment by playing music and decorating for holidays. Their snack bar features a rotating holiday-themed treat, and this month they are excited to introduce four seasonal drinks in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
Each year, the café team chooses a local charity to support through a student-led fundraiser. This year, students selected Rainbow Kitchen in Homestead. They worked an extra day each week in the café and collected hygiene items and non-perishable foods from staff and families. Together, they raised about $1,400, shopped at Aldi for additional groceries, and delivered enough donations to fill 14 shopping carts for Rainbow Kitchen.
The students impress Morrissey every day with their enthusiasm, responsibility, and pride in their work. “From starting as a small cart to now operating a café space in the school lobby, the growth has been incredible,” he said.”It brings a smile to my face and to the many caffeinated staff members throughout the building. The school is truly excited to see what the future holds for these talented young baristas.”
Students share the news
Good Morning Mon Valley (GMMV) was developed by speech language pathologist, Bethany Morrison. With the support of the Mon Valley speech therapy team, students host a morning announcements talk show. The show features Mon Valley students announcing the important news of the day, including the date, pledge of allegiance, weather, staff and student birthdays, lunch menu, and upcoming events. The show also promotes the exciting happenings within the building, like the book fair, assemblies, spirit days, and fundraisers. The show has regularly reoccurring segments, special guests, and fun surprises. The weekly Fun Friday segment is a school favorite, where different classrooms sing and dance to a song of their choosing, after being introduced by DJs Dowell or Dadowski (the principal and assistant principal). Students are eager to participate and are excited to watch the show.
The most exceptional part of GMMV is its inclusivity. Students of all communicative abilities host the program and are supported by their SLP. In preparation for their show, SLPs will practice the students’ script with them, which can mean programming their communication devices, providing a script with visual symbols, typed scripts, or simply practicing through imitation. The team also consults with other service providers such as teachers, vision support, and ASL interpreters, to ensure that students are receiving all the support they need to communicate effectively. Each day, the show has a practice run and then the students host the show themselves. So far this school year, about 80% of full-time students have taken their turn hosting the program.
GMMV has grown into something that nobody anticipated at the start of the school year. The number of students that have been incorporated into each episode has grown beyond what the team envisioned. Mon Valley School hosts district students for our vocational specific classes. These students visit the show as special guests to promote events that are specific to their program — such as Caregiver bingo events, Print Shop pop up shops, and the Food Service snack cart.
“The show has been very well received by full time classrooms and vocational students alike,” said Morrison. “The students are eager to participate and so proud of themselves when they are done. There are so many amazing things happening in the building each week, it has been great fun putting a spotlight on what makes Mon Valley school so special.”
Building school pride through collaboration
GMMV and MV Roasters have a strong relationship. Morrison and Morrissey work together to have their students announce the weekly coffee raffle winner, feature the employee of the month, and air seasonal student created MV Roaster commercials to promote new drinks and special promotions, such as the custom tumbler sales they held before winter break. Morrissey also designed all the original graphic logos for GMMV and MV Roasters.
GMMV is closely tied to the school’s School Wide Positive Behavior Intervention System (SWPBIS). The show’s sign off incorporates the school values: “remember to be respectful, responsible, and safe!” as well as rewards students with SWPBIS money for hosting with RRS behavior. The school’s monthly SWPBIS bingo winners are announced on the show and students from the Student Involvement Committee, who bring student input to the SWPBIS team, are featured with news or contests involving SWPBIS.
The Good Morning Mon Valley show and MV Roasters have brought an immense amount of pride to the school community. The smiles on the students’ faces in the café and in the newsroom during and after their responsibilities speak volumes to the pride they take in their jobs. Watching their confidence grow has been a joy for everyone to see. Mon Valley staff could not be prouder of the students and the functional skills they are gaining in these unique programs.