If you’ve ever walked through the artwing in Braintree High you’ve probably smelled bacon sizzling in a pan, or heard the bubbling of freshly brewed coffee. Maybe you’ve seen a group of kids with a cart in the hall, handing teachers coffee. That’s the bistro, Braintree high’s cafe.
“The bistro is a student-run cafe and it was made so that our students could practice their vocational skills. The majority of our students are non diploma tract so we really focus on their job readiness skills, their vocational training and all the soft skills they need with that like their social skills, their problem solving, their executive functioning,” described by Ms. Strickland.
Students in the non-diploma track programs: Programs, Prove, Wave, Strides, are behind the running of the cafe. The bistro helps students develop life skills outside of the classroom.
“I had some problems with math but during my time here it really helped me with math and how to talk to people,” said JJ, a student who works in the bistro.
The bistro is beneficial for both the kids who work there and the teachers that they serve.
“If you want a large coffee it’s like $2.50 but at Dunkin Donuts it’s almost $5,” said Ms. Burke.
Despite being a business the bistro’s number one priority is giving back to the students who work there.
“We don’t profit in any way, we just take whatever we make to keep the bistro running. A couple times a year we will take all the money that the students earned in tips and we’ll take that and they kind of get to choose what they would like to do with it, like last week we all went out to the 110 Grill for lunch,” Strickland told us.
A standout aspect of the bistro is their delivery service.
“Teachers can either call in from the phone or submit an order online. A student will take the order onto a slip, the order will get fulfilled and put on the delivery cart and then a student either independently or with another student or with a staff member will take the delivery cart and deliver wherever it needs to go in the building,” Strickland explained.
Above all else the bistro is a way for the students who work in it to make connections and get real world experience.
“They get to have hands-on experience right here where we get to help them and support them and when they leave Braintree High that’s something they can put on their resumes when they apply for jobs,” Strickland said.
Ms. Ranalli agrees that the students in the bistro are getting a valuable experience.
“We have students that have been in here that are now working in restaurants,” said Ms. Ranalli.
