School: North Kansas City High School
Class: Class Act Coffee – Entrepreneurial Studies
Instructor: Zachary Johnson
Client: North Kansas City District, Broadway Roasting & Cafe and Joelle’s Baked with Love
Problem: How to allow students to gain real-world hands-on experience in a professional setting.
Summary of Project
Students created a fully student-run and operated coffee shop that is in a strip center and open to the public.
Key Takeaways or Advice
Lots of struggles early on with different personalities and a non “normal” classroom. Very monotonous at the beginning so some students struggled with that. But when the coffee shop opened and they saw all of their work come together it was pretty amazing. Don’t be afraid to try something new. It is freeing, engaging, and way more fun for you as a teacher. There are so many supports in place it is almost impossible to fail. And worst-case scenario you go back to your standard curriculum. This is not extra work you are not teaching as you normally do plus doing this. You would be teaching your concepts through the project. So students are learning, have more buy-in, and are more engaged overall.
Learning Standards
- Market research
- Marketing
- Entrepreneurship basics
- Financial analysis