Instructor Tim Kelly has found a new way to teach students practical lessons in math and business.

He’s helped the students who are Peer Facilitators open a mini coffee shop during breaks in the training day. It’s a fund raiser for the Student Government Association.

In late fall, Mr. Kelly began working with the student group, and he was looking for a project. He’d been brewing coffee in his classroom and noticed that students enjoyed it.

“Lots of students kept asking for it, and I did not want to become the Starbucks of Job Corps. I mentioned it to the students who are Peer Facilitators and suggested it might be a good fund raising activity,” he said.

After buying coffee, cups, cream and sug

L to R: Student Nanika Cross serves coffee, students Juwan Hazle and Makalah Toms wait for their turn and Career Preparation Period Advisor April Norman stirs her cup.

ar, Mr. Kelly led the students through an ex-ercise to determine how to run the business.

“We took each ingredient and added its individual cost together to get the price of one cup of coffee,” he said. “We talked about what we should charge. We did not want to make it too expensive so no one would buy it, but we did not make it so cheap that we weren’t doing any fundraising.”

They settled on $1 a cup with refills at 50 cents. Now students and staff are stopping at the table outside his classroom for a pick-me-up. And they’re considering an expansion — everyone keeps asking for hot chocolate!