As we close out the last week of school, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on The Grind students and the 2019-20 school year.
My role at The Grind is to teach the students the ins and outs of running a small business. Researching new products, conducting inventory, and social media advertising are just a few of the topics we discussed and implemented this year. Having the schools close in mid-March due to COVID-19 was very tough. I have missed the jokes, the sass, and the big ideas. From pizza parties and cupcakes to pumpkin painting and white elephant gifts, we had a lot of fun memories this year.
We did marketing challenges around holidays and the students would look at each design and point out what worked great and what could have been better. As an added bonus, my 8-year-old daughter (who loves to roast people) would give her opinion on each submission, which provided many laughs.
An important part of taking The Grind as a work-based learning class is volunteering. This year the students completed a total of 171.5 volunteer hours!
Helping out at The Grind outside of their class hour, volunteering at local events, and presenting updates on the coffee shop to boards and other organizations are just a few of the ways the students have made an impact.
During the school year, the tips that are given by our customers are saved and disbursed evenly among the qualifying Grind students as part of our Tip Scholarship program. This year, $2,570.05 was tipped by our customers! Incredible!
There were six seniors that took a full year of the work-based learning class, and each of them will receive $428.34 to go towards furthering their education.
If all of that isn’t exciting enough, the best part of the school year was handing out The Grind Coffee House Education Awards. The Grind operates under a non-profit organization called UPward Community Youth, and after all operating costs are covered, the profits are awarded to local educators to fund various projects, resources, and equipment purchases. For the 2019-20 school year, we awarded $5,466.06 to ten of our local educators!
I want to thank my students for taking the work-based learning class, and for knocking it out of the park. Each of my students have a bright future ahead of them. I am so proud of who they are, and who they aspire to be.
All the best,
Alycia Kaiser
Student Education Coordinator
