TEMPLE, Texas — A new coffee shop in Central Texas is helping bring awareness of all learning abilities and the importance of inclusivity.
Students and staff at Lake Belton High School are the lucky customers of Buckles and Beans, which is part of a work based learning program for students in the district's special education program. The outreach is much larger.
The coffee shop is teaching its employees how to be independent, contributing members of society and those on the job aren't taking the role lightly as they're working toward a future.
At Buckles and Beans, they're able to learn life skills like following a schedule, time management and customer service.
Amanda Maroney, the special education teacher helping with the coffee shop, said this is just another way for her students to be part of the student body.
"They're super excited to work," she said. "This this is something that is theirs. There's sports and there's band and there's choir and all the other extracurricular activities, but this belongs to our kids. They've taken full ownership of it."
Tyke Strain is a junior at LBHS who is working at Buckles and Beans. He said his favorite drink to make at the shop is a iced white chocolate mocha. He has learned to follow instructions to make his classmates happy.
"We have to follow the ingredients, if we mess up then we can't serve it to the students," he said. "We have to make the cold brew and wait for 18 hours and we put it in the jug and we fill it up and it's really good."
Senior Aaron Alcozer is hoping the work-based learning program will help him work toward becoming a mechanic, just like his brother and grandfather. He said skills like customer service and learning how to restock could help him.
"I make drinks and learn experience for a real job in the future," he said.
Alcozer said they get really busy so it can be challenging to stay on pace, but they're all hardworking and dedicated.
"It's kind of hard to focus, but it's all right," he added. "We get it done at the end of the day."
This is the first year of the work-based learning program at Lake Belton High School for the special education students because this is the first year there is a senior class. Lake Belton High school opened in fall of 2020.
"Everything that we incorporate in the coffee shop they can go into their future job opportunities and and say that they have those skills and feel confident using those skills," Maroney explained.
The coffee shop has been successful the last couple weeks it has been open. Maroney said they hope it keeps growing in the future. She would like Buckles and Beans to be able to offer a delivery service. Maroney said her students want to have a food truck one day.
"The kids love it, it's something different," Maroney said. "Everyone in the school has been so supportive. We couldn't have asked for more support."
Buckles and Beans offers a menu for staff and a different menu for students to meet nutritional guidelines.
A $10,000 grant from Texas A&M University helped make the coffee shop a success for the work-based learning program.