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Exceptional Students at Hardin Park Host Coffee Talk

Program Receives Terry Sanford Award for Creativity

Story by Corinne Saunders

On Friday morning, they were in white aprons and button nametags, next to a sign that read “Coffee Talk” and behind a spread of fruit cups, deviled eggs, muffins, assorted coffees and more in the school lobby. The exceptional students at Hardin Park Elementary were participating in the last regular Coffee Talk of the school year.

This innovative program won the Terry Sanford Award for Creativity and Innovation in Teaching and Administration at the annual state banquet of the North Carolina Association of Educators last month.

“Terry Sanford was the Democratic governor of North Carolina back in the ‘60s, noted for progressive leadership in the fields of civil rights and education, driven by the belief that a person could accomplish anything with a good education,” said Mary Williams, EC (Exceptional Children) teacher at Hardin Park.

The Terry Sanford Award included a $1,000 prize; $500 was put back into the Coffee Talk program and the other half was split among the five teachers and three assistants involved with the program, Williams said.

Coffee Talk, Williams’ brainchild, is held one Friday every month as an extension of the curriculum for exceptional students. The coffee shop involves the hands-on, practical application of useful skills: daily living, communication, math and healthy lifestyles, to name a few.

“The teachers have done a great job working it into their curriculum; they tailor it to the particular needs of the students,” Williams said.

A student who needs to practice handwriting or typing will write or type the menu, for example, Williams said. The student working as cashier gets an important math lesson in making change and the students rotate positions—greeter, cashier, servers.

“We’ve made more money than we need to run the program, so now we donate at least $50 a month to a charity,” Williams said.

Faculty and staff make recommendations or students can make suggestions, but the students pick the charity, Williams said.

“I’ve really been impressed about how they use the money. They donated to the Hunger Coalition one month; they bought the food and took it to the Hunger Coalition,” said Pam Edwards-Brasch, mother of Coffee Talk participant Adam Kvasnak.

The students’ continued efforts will keep benefiting local charities in the future, as well as give them useful life skills.

“The week before [each Coffee Talk], they come up with the menu, make a grocery list, go to Lowe’s and do the shopping,” Williams said.

“Thursday afternoon, they do their cooking, and Friday morning some students get there early to set up,” Williams said.

The program has been well received by Hardin Park faculty and parents.

“I think this has helped not only the faculty, but the children; they do such a wonderful job taking care of us and learning the skills that everyone should know,” said kindergarten teacher Kathy Cottrell.

“I think every class should do this. The program enhances creativity and their level of confidence,” Cottrell added.

“A lot of EC students feel isolated sometimes from the rest of the school, so this gives them a lot of visibility in the school and the chance to do things for the community,” said Edwards-Brasch.

Coffee Talk was originally made possible by a grant from the Watauga Education Foundation. The foundation’s grants for innovative teaching enable teachers to do projects they would not be able to do otherwise, because no state funding is available for them, said Williams. Last Friday night’s Shooting Stars program included a video presentation about the Coffee Talk program and a big thank you to the Watauga Education Foundation.

“In 2005, I wrote the grant application, our goals, what we wanted to do, and we got [the grant] and started the program in January,” Williams said.

The program has expanded since then.

“Now we do deliveries to classrooms. The orders come in early, and the students will fill the orders and take food to the teachers,” Williams said.

“You can see it in these kids’ faces when you’re going through the line—they enjoy doing it and take pride in it,” said Randy Bentley, director of EC Services for Watauga County.