When Dublin City Schools (DCS) moved into its Emerald Campus building, a former business room was left vacant at Dublin Coffman High School. Erin Canaday had the perfect idea of how to fill the space.
She formulated a grant proposal with the help of Dublin Coffman High School Principal Matt Parrill. The grant was brought to Mike Isler at the Dublin AM Rotary Club and in the fall of 2021, the Rock Shop opened.
Coffee or tea?
courtesy of Dublin City Schools
Cozy and stylish, the Rock Shop is a coffee shop sporting a coffee machine funded by grants from the Dublin AM Rotary and the Dublin Education Foundation. It gets its name from the spirit wear store that came before it.
Canaday, a transition coordinator at Dublin Coffman, says the shop started off more popular than expected.
It became a hub, attracting crowds during down times for students and staff. It hosts “Music Fridays” where students and teachers can come play instruments.
“It’s been really a culture in this building in all facets, with all variety of students and their levels up to staff,” she says.
A new kind of learning
The initial sustained success of Coffman’s shop inspired district efforts to put shops into the other high schools. Jerome launched The Knot in the fall of 2023, and Scioto’s Kindness Cafe opened its newly renovated space during the 2023-24 school year, making an instant splash. Operating in partnership with Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, all three shops provide a place for students to receive unique job training, with a primary focus on students with disabilities.
Kristen Yearling, Scioto’s transition coordinator, says the shop created a whole new world for students to have real-world experiences in a safe environment.
After evaluation during their freshman year, a student might be recommended for a work study in a coffee shop if it seems to fit their journey. Students work in the shop with a job coach and become well-versed in a plethora of career skills including customer service, technical point-of-sale skills, stocking and inventory, drink preparation, sanitation and safety.
The setting has added a realistic phase between school and work, allowing the transition coordinators to work with students where they are in their transition to adulthood. It’s made many students more prepared for their next steps as well as given them new skills to be proud of at school.
“I would say a majority of our work study students, if you ask them about their day, the first thing they’re probably going to mention is that they work in the coffee shop,” Yearling says. “They come here and they walk away with such confidence.”
As transition coordinators – both with 23 years of experience – Canaday and Yearling work in DCS’s special education department and are responsible for preparing students with disabilities for the transition to life after high school. Shawn Heimlich, a DCS special education coordinator, stresses the breadth of that responsibility and the changing landscape of their jobs.
“I love the focus that we get to have at the high school level on not just academics and preparing students for graduation, but also the opportunity we have for preparing students for success in pathways,” he says.
Canaday says the coffee shops broadens students’ experiences to better fit a wider number of options.
“We prepare students for life after high school, whatever that may mean in their transition plan. (For some) students that may be going on to college and needing some minor interventions and extra training, or students that are specifically going into job training. This gives them some career exploration in addition to some of the transferable skills,” she says. “And then (there may be) students that maybe, as an adult, may not have the opportunity to work, so this gives them that opportunity to see some of their interests.”
Help around town
courtesy of Dublin City Schools
Working in that ever-evolving landscape involves lots of community partnerships, like the one with the Dublin AM Rotary Club. Ingrid Fields, the club’s president, says the grant for Coffman’s coffee machine aligned well with their missions in the local community and supported the kinds of ideas and progress the AM Rotary looks to fund.
“We need dedicated teams of people that are willing to step up and lead, and that’s what it’s all about,” Fields says.
Canaday says the rotary club members plan to stop in for a coffee fix as the shop enters its fourth year, and they’re looking to partner again to support furniture replacements.
What’s next
In just its first few months, the Kindness Cafe successfully funded itself with its own sales, while the Rock Shop turns enough of a profit to put money back into the community. It can serve as a free reward for students exhibiting good behavior, and anything left at the end of the year goes to the Dublin Food Pantry.
As time passes, menus may expand but the focus will remain on the students.
“It’s a whole spectrum of needs and abilities, and we have growth with all of them, always.” Yearling says.
Jake Ruffer is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
