Hickman Mills gets a coffee shop

By Don Bradley

Ruskin High School has a new class called “coffee shop.”

Which makes perfect sense because the school district has a new coffee shop that is run by students.

Grand opening for The Mill Cafe, 10301 Hickman Mills Dr., is set for 8:30 a.m. Jan 22. It will be open to the public.

The students show up early, serve up cappuccinos and lattes, quiche and pastries, get paid and earn class credit.

All in the name of hands-on, real world learning, and preparing students for what comes next.

“Actually, I just wanted to get out of school,” senior Richard Cushingberry said Wednesday when asked about the three hours he spends at the coffee shop.

“But now, doing it, being here, I really like it. It definitely shows us how to run a business.”

Then he got back to the line of customers.

Zeshaun Sanders, another senior, said he thinks the work will help create a path to college.

Early morning, 14 degrees and snow and ice might not have been the best conditions for the Hickman Mills School District to offer a sneak peek at the new coffee shop, but a fair crowd showed up Wednesday at the district’s Real-World Learning Center.

The shop has been in soft-opening mode for a few weeks, catering mostly to district employees.

At next week’s official grand opening, Superintendent Yaw Obeng and board president Irene Kendrick will talk about the project. A representative from The Roasterie, which provides the coffee, will also be there.

The students work on average 6 to 9 hours a week at the coffee shop. They first arrive at the high school, then are bussed to the Real-World Learning Center, which also offers instruction in health sciences, business and construction trades, including electrical and welding.

The coffee shop workers return to Ruskin for regular studies around 10 a.m.

Pay: $16 an hour.

Carlos Vides, an insurance agent, dropped in for a quiche at the Wednesday event.

“This is amazing,” Vides said. “Just a wonderful thing for these kids. Now they’re going to need help from the public to keep it going and I hope they get it.”