Eastern York SD highlights student-run Shining Knights Cafe as life-skills training

Eastern York SD recognized its students of the month and heard a presentation on a student-run life-skills coffee cart that administrators say is teaching workplace skills to students with disabilities.

"So everything we do at Eastern comes back to our mission," Emma Feldman, high school principal, told the board as she described the Shining Knights Cafe. Feldman said the district used a YECO innovation grant and partnered with Wild Batch Bistro to pilot the coffee cart, which now operates on Fridays from 8 to 10 a.m., currently serving staff while the program works through legal and operational details.

Feldman said the program is intentionally small to allow students to learn incremental skills each year. She described how students practice customer service, communication, punctuality and basic money handling; the program also gives students experience with ordering, pricing and reinvesting profits for supplies. "We're practicing a lot of these, you know, what do they want?" Feldman said, summarizing the classroom conversations about product selection and pricing.

Student leader Justin Zieger described how participating in the cart helped him learn to pour coffee, run a register and manage transactions. "When we first started, we were nervous. But when we got started getting to know the stuff — how to pour the coffee, how to run the register — we were getting good at it and learning from it," Justin said. He told the board the experience inspired him to consider running a café after graduation.

Administrators said legal constraints currently limit sales to teachers while the program builds operating procedures and considers how to expand service to more customers. Items are sold at low prices (the presentation cited $1 as an example) and profits are used to replenish inventory and sustain the venture. Feldman said the district is exploring whether the coffee cart should be housed in the life-skills room and scaled from a Friday-only operation to broader service and delivery to classrooms.

The presentation highlighted several program benefits — community partnership, hands-on employability training and a pathway for students to build marketable skills. Board members thanked staff and students and encouraged the program to continue developing a sustainable model; administrators said they will revisit funding and operations as the program grows.

The board recognized the students of the month and took photographs after the presentation. The board moved on to regular agenda business after the program update.