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WILKES-BARRE — As polite as you could want a person to be, Dominic Leitzer sat outside the classroom-turned-cafe and greeted every entrant with a smile, a “good morning,” and a “loyalty card” entitling the bearer to one free coffee after buying 10.
It was “bagel Friday” at the Meyers High School coffee cafe run by Life Skills students, an idea launched earlier this year by teacher Erin Moran. “Our students actually run it,” she said. “We have three shifts a day, integrating all grades, so a seventh-grade student may work next to an 11th-grade student.”
Meyers High School houses all Life Skills students from the district in grades 7-12 — anywhere from 35 to 4o on most days, as the population can vary a bit. They are special needs students at varying levels of abilities, and the idea is to give them the skills they need to live as independently as possible.
Moran said the cafe, held daily from about 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., gives them real world experience at jobs they can handle while working their way up to more complex tasks. They may begin arranging muffins behind the sales tables, move on to keeping a tally of customers and sales, and then to pouring coffee from urns or handling transactions at the cash box.
It’s also a pretty impressive socialization opportunity. Teachers strolled in regularly enough Friday morning to make Leitzer ask Moran for more loyalty cards before the first hour was over. One reason: It was teacher appreciation day, and the principal had donated all the bagels and coffee, so there was no charge.
Leitzer grinned at those he knew as they entered, and at those he didn’t. “I love talking to the people,” he said.
Diana Acevedo meticulously filled coffee orders while Jeffrey Paisley tallied customer orders. That was more important than usual, Moran noted, because there was a one-visit-per-customer limit to make sure every teacher and staff member had a chance at a free nosh.
“The French toast are the best bagels,” teacher Chris Sedon insisted as he grabbed one. “I tried the bacon and cheddar and didn’t like it.”
“Bacon and cheddar is one of our best sellers,” Moran noted.
Teacher Sam Elias opted for a poppy seed bagel he carefully sliced and schmeared with cream cheese, then chided a cohort who seemed to contort the bagel into a jagged oval while ripping it apart with his bare hands.
“I’m guessing your wife does the bagels at home,” Elias quipped.
