MADISON TOWNSHIP — Students at Madison Comprehensive High School now have their own campus coffee shop.
Common Grounds is located inside the Ramble Inn, just off the high school cafeteria. The cafe is run by students in the high school’s culinary arts career tech program.
The school celebrated Common Grounds’ grand opening Wednesday. Students took orders and prepared drinks behind the new coffee counter.
Madison reinstated its culinary arts program last year after more than a decade, according to school administrators. Instructor Nikki Mosiychuk and her students came up with the coffee shop idea soon afterward. Students were tasked with creating a name, theme and concept for the coffee shop. After narrowing their options, they surveyed the entire student body to pick a name and logo.
Mosiychuk’s students also selected the materials for the new coffee shop and created the menu.
“I try to keep everything them-focused,” Mosiychuk said. “They come up with all the ideas and I lead them down the right way.
“At the end of the day, it’s what they’re doing for two years. They need to be happy about it. They need to be motivated.”
Common Grounds is open to staff and students on school days from 7 to 7:30 a.m., as well as Tuesday during “lunch A,” Wednesday during “lunch B” and Thursday during “lunch C.”
Patrons can pick from a variety of baked goods, espresso drinks, smoothies, tea and “Ramachinos,” a blended coffee drink mixed with flavoring, milk and ice.
Junior Andru Parnell said his favorite drink is the strawberry cheesecake Ramachino. Mosiychuk prefers the Ram Rumble — a shaken espresso drink.
Jacob Grove, Madison’s director of career technical education, said running the cafe will teach more than the ins-and-outs of being a barista. Students will also learn practical business skills like taking orders, budgeting, keeping track of inventory and ordering supplies.
Mosiychuk said the culinary arts program prepares students for a wider variety of food-related careers, including restaurateur, caterer, dietician and pastry chef.
Students split their time between the traditional classroom, the kitchen and the coffee shop. Time spent preparing and serving food and drinks count towards the 200 hours of practical work experience they need to graduate. Students also earn hours at the Ramble Inn by preparing teacher meals on certain days and working the monthly senior citizen luncheons.
Lydia Nicol said she registered for the program to try something new.
“I’ve always baked and cooked with my family. My grandparents have done it a lot. It’s really important to me,” she said. “I just thought this class had a lot of potential and I wanted to see what it would bring out in me and other people.”
Nicol said she’s made new friends and improved her people skills as part of the program.
“We have luncheons and we have to talk people we’ve never even met before,” she said. “You grow closer to people that are in completely different cliques and you make friends that you didn’t think you would.”
She’s also learned to tackle unfamiliar tasks, like operating an espresso machine.
“You have to go into it knowing nothing and you have to accept that you know nothing so you can learn,” she said. “A lot of times when you go into something thinking you know everything, it doesn’t go well. So, you have to have a willingness to learn and achieve, then you can accomplish more.”
The Adena Corporation completed the Ramble Inn renovations at a cost of $85,000. Construction began in November.
“It was completely funded with Career Technical Education funds,” Grove said. “The board of education did not incur any cost for this project.”
According to Grove, the district’s CTE program receives state funding based on enrollment. This money, along with funds generated through school-based enterprises like Common Grounds, is reinvested into CTE programs.
“The money must be spent on the operation of programs and facility improvements in order to stay current with equipment that is used within each industry,” Grove explained. “The funds cannot be spent for any type of teacher salary or benefits.”
The ultimate goal of all CTE programs, Grove added, is to provide students with real life experiences that will allow them to gain appropriate skills to compete for jobs.
