A long line of teachers and staff formed just outside the Food Science Lab at Independence High School on Friday afternoon.
They reviewed a custom menu for a makeshift restaurant called 鈥淐lub Soda,鈥� and when they reached the front of the line, placed an order with a student. It was entered digitally and each order was priced, stuck to a cup, and brought inside the classroom for students to prepare.
For a fifth year, the Loudoun County school has turned the facility into a fast casual restaurant, preparing students for what could be their first paying job.
鈥淚 currently have a job as a food runner, but I’d say it definitely helps with what it’s going to be like in an actual restaurant with food running, hosting, and handling food safety and sanitation, and when it comes to handling customers and preferences,鈥� sophomore Jayda Smith said.
The students baked batches of cookies and soft pretzels in advance. The school covers the cost of the ingredients, sodas, syrups and other products.
Part of the exercise is a focus on listening while taking orders and adjusting when a customer orders something that isn鈥檛 exactly how the recipe is prepared. There鈥檚 a similar emphasis on sanitation and hygiene habits in a kitchen, including wearing a uniform and changing gloves regularly.
鈥淲e are preparing our students to enter into the 鈥榬eal world,鈥欌�� said Alexandra Swinimer, the school鈥檚 family and consumer sciences teacher.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e those skills that we want them, and employers are telling us, that they need them to have, those soft skills. How do you talk to a customer? How do you adjust when something doesn鈥檛 go the way that you are anticipating for it to go?鈥�
Sophomore Jace Flynn signed up for the class because of his interest in cooking. He enjoyed cooking with his mom at home and was eager to learn new recipes.
Friday鈥檚 exercise presented a communication challenge, he said, because there are some student workers he didn鈥檛 know. Keeping track of customer orders was also essential, 鈥渂ecause if there鈥檚 sugar free, you鈥檝e got to really pay attention to that, because the slip-ups happen real easily. You have to hold yourself accountable, make sure you really read what they want,鈥� he said.
The hope, Swinimer said, is for students to engage with teachers and staff outside of the traditional classroom setting and feel proud about making something that someone else has enjoyed.
鈥淓verybody kind of enjoys playing store, even as teenagers,鈥� Swinimer said.
The school is in talks to take the activity beyond the classroom walls, either to farmers markets or elementary school open houses.
鈥淓verybody’s feeding themselves, everybody’s getting dressed every morning, everyone’s taking care of their family unit, whatever that looks like,鈥� Swinimer said.
鈥淎nd so these classes are incredibly important for our students, because it is helping them become the citizens of the world that we want them to be.鈥�
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