Over the summer, Belleville West took up a new project on renovating the cafe in the library. After getting it approved, librarians and other teachers created a whole new room that would later become Belleville West’s new coffee shop. 

Now, instead of self-serve like it has been in the past, students are able to walk up to a window and order directly from student workers thanks to the new room. This has become efficient for both the workers and the students. 

“We actually decided to give it over to a different department. So now the Individualized Education Department runs it, and giving it over to them meant they’d need more space since they’d have more workers,” head Librarian, Ms. Tiffany Droege said.

The idea of remodeling the cafe originally sprouted from the new change in leadership. More workers meant they’d need a bigger space for the cafe. This led to the idea of making it into a whole room with a walk up window customers could order from. After the idea was approved, the actual building took months to complete. 

“My favorite part of the new Coffee Shack is seeing our ALP kids working hard and learning how to work in a timely manner,” said Ms. Beckett, a teacher who helped with the updates. “Everyday, the kids are begging to have a turn. It also gives our kids an opportunity to work with money and give them a sense of a real work environment.”

Along with the new renovations, new leadership came as well. ALP kids have taken over running the cafe as a part of their learning experience. So far they seem to enjoy being in charge and are picking up on many helpful life skills along the way. 

“I really like the variety of options they have now. There’s a lot more to choose from than there was last year, so you don’t always have to get the same thing and you can try something new,” said Audrey Bell, a regular customer of the cafe.

With the bigger space and more workers, the coffee shop is able to add more options now for the students to choose from. Students are thrilled about this, considering there were limited options last year. 

“The update makes the line go a lot quicker than it used to since it’s more organized. Last year kids would just crowd around each other which made things move slower,” another student, Anabelle Carfagno, commented. 

Both the student workers and the new window have shortened the wait time and created a more organized area for the students purchasing from the shop. It’s a lot easier for students to get their drink and get to class so other students can purchase theirs. 

Overall everyone involved is very happy with the outcome of the project. The improvements have opened up new opportunities for students and better improved the school.