LEARNING THROUGH COMMERCE
Special needs kids run school café
When Bruno Di Cesare makes the announcement heard throughout John Rennie High School on Wednesday mornings that the Mojo Café at will be open for business at recess, his delivery is confident and professional, his message lively and bright.
“Everybody loves my announcement,” he said. “It makes people smile.”
Di Cesare, 16, is one of six students with special needs at the Pointe-claire high school who organize and run the weekly café for teachers and staff. It was launched in the fall of 2018 as part of the life skills curriculum in the school’s resource department.
The program was created by integration aides Beverlee Gauthier and Cathy Hordij, who assist the students as they work together on the menu and look to Youtube for videos of recipes. There’s a different loaf, squares and cookies each week and selections on a recent Wednesday were lemon cranberry loaf, marble brownie squares and chocolate cookies.
Next, they go shopping for ingredients at a nearby Maxi, said Rohan Patel, another student in the program — and one known for his skill at making date squares. Then they gather in a small kitchen at the school and get to work on the recipes.
Among the skills they acquire through the program are working together as a team, measuring, handling knives, operating an oven and cleaning. Di Cesare and fellow student Brandon Chung are particularly good at washing, said Gauthier and Hordij. Patel, 15, dries well and Booker James, also 15, is good at putting things away in their proper place.
The six students are among about 300 in John Rennie’s population of 1,300 who have special needs, which range from learning and developmental disabilities to physical challenges. Most are in regular classrooms, but those in the Mojo Café program are not. They attend gym and art classes with other students but otherwise do not follow a regular academic program and won’t receive high school leaving certificates. Still, they are welcome at prom and convocation ceremonies.
“They are a part of the school,” said Margo O’donohue Edwards, a special education technician in the resource department of the Lester B. Pearson Board school and coordinator of the Mojo Café program. And the goal is to focus on what the students can do, not on their limitations, she said.
A cup of joe is a cup of coffee, the students said while explaining the café’s name — and mojo means more coffee.
The Mojo Café is set up in an alcove on the school’s second floor. The students wait as long as possible before recess to brew the coffee, a blend of roasts, so that it is fresh and hot, said O’donohue Edwards. Milk, cream and sugar are set out for customers to help themselves.
During the 15 minutes at recess when the café is open, the students meet and serve their customers.
“We say, ‘Hello, what would you like today?’” said Chung, 14.
Every item costs a dollar. If the teachers don’t have exact change, the students make change. “We tell them how much they owe us, and how much we are taking and giving back,” said Chung. He, Di Cesare and Arvin Abdollahian-sohi take turns at the cash.
“We try and change them up so they can learn different skills,” said O’donohue Edwards.
The purchase completed, “we say ‘Thank you for shopping at the
Mojo Café,’” said Chung.
Said integration aide Hordij: “The program is great for the kids: They learn social skills, shopping, planning, communicating, socializing, following directions and working with money — and it teaches them responsibility.
“You can see how proud they are. They take it really seriously.”
To Shawna Katz, a Cycle One history teacher at John Rennie, it’s clear that “the students put so much time and care and effort into the Mojo Café.” And teachers are excited to gather around the café tables and socialize for a few minutes, she said.
“It’s a chance to get out of the classroom at recess and something we look forward to.”
On an average Wednesday, 20 or 25 teachers usually spend $2 apiece at the Mojo Café. Some of the money goes toward the purchase of ingredients, some underwrites the occasional group outing and some goes to charity: Causes including the Poppy Fund, Dans la Rue, On Rock community services in Pierrefonds, and John Rennie’s annual Christmas basket drive. Last spring students donated proceeds from the café to help victims of flooding on the West Island.
“We give where we live,” Chung said.
Integration aides Sherri Rodgers and Lara Sudia are also involved with the café; student Hayam Hamershah is in a wheelchair and they assist her; they’re also responsible for the Mojo 2 Go program, a kind of satellite to the Mojo Café on the school’s main floor.
For John Rennie receptionist Heather Szemenyei-milne, Wednesday is “the best day of the week.”
With students constantly coming by the office, it’s difficult for her to get away from her post: So she relies on the students with the Mojo 2 Go cart stopping by en route to the café’s regular spot to bring her a cup of fresh, hot, joe.