Shiloh High, Chick-fil-A offer a tasty way to get job skills

Chain’s cafe at school helps students learn customer service.

Titus Daugett, the operating partner of the Chickfil-A on Snellville’s Main Street, was doing double duty on the drive-thru when Shiloh High special education teacher Minnie Sharpe pulled up.

“I’m not sure she recognized me until she saw my name badge,” said Daugett. “But when she did, she said, ‘Hey, I want to partner with you guys.’”

From that meet-up more than a year ago, Sharpe and Daugett have paired up to create a learning opportunity for Shiloh’s students in the moderate intellectual ability unit.

“This is the first time we’ve done something like this,” said Daugett. “It was all Miss Minnie’s idea. She brought it to our store, let us know what her vision was and what she was doing with disabled kids, and we said, ‘What do you want us to do?’”

Sharpe, who was the school’s 2019 Teacher of the Year, had the idea to create a Chick-fil-A cafe at the

Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042. school where students could engage in learning skills to take into the workforce. At the same time, the entire Shiloh community could enjoy coffee and food items from the popular chicken chain.

“Our No. 1 goal is to make our students as successful as possible,” said Sharpe. “Not everyone will go to college, and we need to make them career ready. I thought, ‘Why not get Chick-fil-A on board as part of our vocational program?’ This is opening the doors for a lot of our students by teaching them how to serve, greet and talk to customers, and add and subtract money. It’s a valuable vocational opportunity.”

Though the pandemic put a crimp in the launch plans, the program has started slowly. About 20 students served coffee and cappuccino. The goal is to soon add breakfast biscuits and chicken sandwiches to the selection.

Shiloh Principal Danyel Dollard pointed to the new partnership as one of the best ways of preparing moderately disabled students for jobs beyond high school.

“Minnie has been instrumental in finding those opportunities where students can get jobs,” she said. “She’s also done that with our Silver Lining Boutique, a clothing shop where students do all the pricing and tagging.”

For Daugett, who already employs several Shiloh High students, the collaboration was “a no-brainer.”

“We’re always looking for opportunities to reach out to the community in a meaningful way,” he said. “Shiloh is like a community outreach center for us. When I saw the strategy, the plan and the ideas Miss Minnie had, anybody would want to support it. She is so sincere and has a real passion for reaching students. When they need more support, we’ll be there.”