Almost every morning last year, students who parked in the A and B lots were greeted with a food-packed concession stand as they walked into school. The small area would sell a multitude of breakfast items such as hot chocolate, muffins and all types of bagels, all sold by the Exceptional Education department.
However, at the beginning of the school year, the food and coffee stand had seemingly disappeared. Wando has just recently revealed that the Main Street Cafe was not actually disbanded at all, and instead relocated–turned
into a small cafe inside of the Magnolia Room.
Exceptional Education teacher Kelly Lesinski, who has helped run this business for quite a while, played a big role in the transition.
“I wanted to give the school something more like a cafe, and something that was easier for everyone to access. Only around half the kids come in through the [A and B lot], and many of them can’t walk all the way down and back, and still get to class on time,” Lesinski said.
Lesinski has put a lot of effort into decorating and maintaining the space in order to help create a better environment than the concession stand was before. However, it appears that her goal is not to merely amplify
the number of students who enter the cafe.
“I thought that having something centrally located on Main Street, easy to get to and [more like a cafe that you would find], would draw more kids and give the school something to be proud of,” Lesinski said.
Exceptional Education Job Coach Kimberely Prentice has also aided with this process since the beginning of the year.
“The most important thing for us is giving people job skills, but also getting more interaction between the special needs kids and the general education population is really important, too,” Prentice said. “I think that having it in this space where you can gather is probably a lot more conducive than it was in concession.”
Prentice and Lesinski hope that the closer, more comfortable space will not only create a good workplace to hire students, but also allow them to mingle with their peers and form connections. Junior Austin Horry said he is anticipating this new opening alongside the two teachers.
“I think that a larger room will be beneficial because now you can actually sit down and have conversations with other people,” Horry said. “We don’t just have to wait outside like with the concession stand, we can actually go in and get stuff.”
Horry expressed the hope that this change will make a great impact on the school community. An area that was formally just a stand to grab a quick muffin has now turned into a social atmosphere for all students.
With the grand opening on Oct. 7, more student and teacher opinions of this cafe are yet to be seen over the course of the year. However, most of those who have already taken a look so far have nothing but high hopes and positive reviews for the changed space. The Main Street Cafe will hopefully be a big step in the right direction to morph the schoolinto a safer and kinder environment, Lesinski said.
“We wanted it to be inviting, inclusive,” Lesinski said. “A big part of it is making sure that everyone knows that our Exceptional Education students are Wando students, too. This is a place for everybody and there’s nothing separating or dividing us. We all belong.”
