It is Thanksgiving Dinner Day in the Manchester Township Middle School (MTMS) cafeteria and, while the food service workers are ready to greet students in style, the Mustang Joe's Coffee & Treat Cart kicked off the day with a similar Thanksgiving theme!
Each week, the small group instructional classes at MTMS run The Mustang Joe's Coffee Cart, a small business featuring seasonal drinks, treats, and today a raffle that helps to fund the impressive Mustang Joe's operation.
Mustang Joe's is an opportunity for middle school students in the small group instructional classes to learn many life and business skills. Each week, staff and students from across MTMS place an order via a Google Form between Monday and Thursday morning. This gives the small group instructional classes time to organize, prepare, and fill the orders ahead of distribution. On event day, their classroom becomes a coffee shop, buzzing with students who are busy freshly brewing hot and iced coffee, making lemonade and sun teas, as well as whipping up their special "Room 102 Brew" which is a sun tea/lemonade mix. No detail is left behind as the ice cubes are customized to the drink, the labels are personalized to the staff member or event, and the cart is always themed. The morning is spent filling orders before 9 AM when the cart departs. The Mustang Joe's cart has grown so popular that the cart has to make multiple trips. Some students stay behind to fulfill orders as other students travel the building to deliver orders with a smile.
Each student has a job such as being a Greeter, Cashier, Delivery Specialist, Server and Barista. This brings them the opportunity to exercise their math, public speaking, socialization, culinary, life/skills, communication, teamwork and so much more.
Supplies for The Mustang Joe's Coffee Cart are provided to the students thanks to the generous donations made by community members through DonorsChoose. Funds raised by The Mustang Joe's Coffee Cart are used for more supplies and even class trips! Today the Thanksgiving Themed Cart featured seasonal drink options including pumpkin spiced cold brew and an additional cart with a giveaway thanks to Principal Nancy Driber who hand-made an all-chocolate cornucopia being raffled off tomorrow! The proceeds for the raffle directly benefit The Mustang Joe's Cart operations. We look forward to seeing what The Mustang Joe's Coffee & Treat Cart debuts after Thanksgiving Recess. Mrs. Strange and Ms. Stinemire-Tordik's small group instruction classes usually host a yearly Staff Cookie Exchange with Mustang Joe’s but will they also treat us to a Cocoa Cart? We can not wait to see!
