On Monday afternoon, students at Esko High School celebrated the grand opening of Kahvia Coffee Company, a student-run coffee business designed and managed almost entirely by the students themselves.
The business was developed through two business courses at the school, with the students handling everything from writing grants to building a customer base. According to senior Jack Graddy, the project was a valuable learning experience. “Entrepreneurship was something that we learned drastically. That was a big change for us. We worked on our menus, started from scratch, and had the freedom to bring in our own ideas,” he said.
Seniors Jack Graddy and Alec Halvorson were among the students who helped make the venture a reality. Halvorson reflected on the creative process, explaining how teachers guided the students but allowed them the freedom to experiment. “Our teachers gave us guidelines, but we had the freedom to think for ourselves. We had a lot of bad ideas, but we also had some great ones. We learned from our mistakes, and now we have a real coffee shop to show for it,” he said.
Kahvia Coffee Company is located in Esko High School’s newly developed flexible learning space, which features various seating options and quiet rooms for students to work in between classes. This space is designed to provide students, especially those in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program, with a comfortable place to study and relax during breaks.
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