Sip and Chat Logo

By Charles Lefebvre

Smile Sunday

Hands-on learning at Crescent Heights High School

Jan 19, 2020 | 6:00 AM

Starting the day off on the right foot and with a cup of coffee.

Students at Crescent Heights High School are serving up homemade baked goods, smoothies, and warm beverages at the school-run Sip ‘n Chat cafe.

The Lessons in Future Experience (LIFE) class is taking hands-on learning to the next level.

Students run the business – everything from marketing, management, and customer service.

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Teacher Jade Monette came up with the idea to run the coffee shop. She says students are up early to work before classes begin as well as over the noon hour.

“So the kids come in, they make food, I got them working in four different groups so they’re doing promotion and advertisement, working the shop, making food and then doing assignments. They rotate the four different areas every 2 weeks.”

The Sip ‘n Chat is now in its second year. In the first year, funding came from donations Monette collected from local businesses.

This year, they received a nutrition funding grant for $20,000 dollars from the province. The money allows deserving students to purchase something for breakfast or lunch every day on a personal tab.

Those running the coffee shop are in charge of all the baking and beverages being sold.

Grade 11 student Madelyn Middelhoek says, “In here we will start the water, brew coffee, some of the past mornings we’ve made banana bread, smoothies. Basically run it with Ms. Monette watching over us.”

Abigail McBride is a grade 12 student in the class, she says, “I like that it provides an opportunity for kids to learn important life skills, especially in the job area. I know that some kids don’t really know how to do that and this is an awesome opportunity without the risk of being fired because you can learn how to get that responsibility.”

Sip ‘n Chat started with a class of 22 and Monette has had 147 requests this semester, so they’re trying to fit everyone in. It’s a course that can be taken from grades 10-12 and students can earn anywhere from 7-9 credits.

Monette says she is very proud of her students, “They’re really dedicated to it, it’s shocking how, you know, I can get 24 kids here at 7 in the morning and especially on cold days like this to come in and make this program run and make it successful for our whole school.”