![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
Woodbridge High Students Give Warmth Through Coffee Cart Deliveries
Special education students are working towards taking Woodbridge High staff’s coffee orders, developing key vocational and communication skills along the way
Yejin Song
Jude Stamation and Alphonso Sorensen pose alongside the coffee cart in their aprons. Both students are in charge of running the cart and delivering orders twice a week.
February 23, 2023
Education specialist Andy Marin and special education students at Woodbridge High are running a coffee cart to deliver coffee to staff on campus, developing essential skills for students’ futures.
Marin has taken charge of the student-run coffee cart recently.
“We are currently servicing about 27 people on campus and maybe about 12 classrooms at the moment,” Marin said. He acknowledges that the reach of the coffee cart is purposefully limited so that the work doesn’t become overwhelming.
Education specialist and department chair Alexander Doty explains that the coffee cart i
s being operated by a Google form James Hickson sent to a certain amount of staff at Woodbridge High. These staff place their orders, then students make and deliver these orders twice a week.
“We’re trying to teach our students about [food] safety, food handling, customer service, money, navigating the school, appropriate communication with customers and their trainers,” Marin said.
The students also practice with numbers when staff donate to the coffee cart. Each donation corresponds to a punch card that the students use to account the staff members’ orders.
Doty emphasizes that this opportunity is helpful for developing transferable skills.
“We’re working on just those skills as early as possible to help them develop the ability [to have] a future fruitful employment for different companies,” Doty said.
Doty acknowledges that this has previously been a challenge.
“Finding jobs is important for this population since a lot of our students are underserved in the community and in employment,” Doty said. These valuable opportunities allow them to develop critical vocational skills in real-world settings.
The coffee cart is not the only example of Woodbridge High staff supporting the development of special education students’ vocational skills. Anthony Palmeri, who previously worked at Woodbridge High as a special education teacher, contributed to the founding of Able Coffee Roasters, which has now become a successful business where Marin’s son works.
“My son who was in special [education], [has been working] at the one in Huntington Beach for two years. It brings him so much joy to not only get a paycheck but also being productive. He has meaning to his life,” Marin said. “He learned a lot of the skills here at Woodbridge [High] and he took them over to the real world.”
In addition, sophomore Leila Hadhoud is a coffee enthusiast who often makes her own coffee. She expresses that the experiences that come with the coffee cart would be valuable to students. “It gets them life skills to be able to work with their peers or help others. That’s what you’re going to need [overall] in life,” Hadhoud said.
This story was originally published on Golden Arrow on February 10, 2023.
