The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
STUDENTS OPEN ‘CAFE’ TO COMMUNITY
Children with motor disabilities open ‘cafe’ at Rising Star Academy
“We actually call it Rising Star Kave (coffee in Hungarian) because we have teachers from Hungary." — Rising Star Academy Executive Director Erin Potter-DeCarlo
As the room-turned-cafe filled with eager customers, 10 students at Rising Star Academy in Euclid greeted them with cheerful and warm welcomes.
Stemming from last year’s success of the studentran coffee and snack shop, when it started during summer camp, Rising Star Academy Executive Director Erin Potter-DeCarlo knew additional opportunities for the students to participate in socialand commerce-based interaction would again be embraced.
“We started just with soft openings and we have evolved from having a handful of customers to having a full cafe,” she said. “We actually call it Rising Star Kave (coffee in Hungarian) because we have teachers from Hungary.
“There is a lot of preparation that goes into it and we focus mainly on teaching our students how to work together as a team and how important customer service is. We role play where we have the staff go into the cafe where we throw every kind of customer at them so they can practice — just what a real working environment can be. We role play as sweet and kind, but then we show them what to do with a sassy customer or unhappy customer. It’s all about teaching our students
real-life situations.”
Other than coffee, the students served tea, water, lemonade, bagels, cookies, Hungarian homemade apple pie and cheese biscuit stix. Residents, family members, Euclid police officers, Euclid firefighters and Euclid’s mayor, Kirsten Holzheimer Gail, stood in line to place orders and discuss the cafe with the students.
Potter-DeCarlo said the exchange of goods and services also empowers the students to tap into their abilities.
“Because our students are all capable in their own ways with their physical challenges, we work with each child so that they all can participate. For a nonverbal student, we have them greet customers with a programmed communication switch. For the students who have the fine motor skills to use the cash register, they work on their math skills by collecting the money and giving change. Students who are mobile serve as food runners. We use a microphone for the students who are verbal, but need extra volume for telling the customers that orders are ready. Our students are lined up behind the ‘counter’ just as you would see employees behind a Starbucks counter, teaching them real teamwork.
“We actually live this idea every day throughout the school year,” she said. “We are a conductive education school. Our main goal at Rising Star is to give our students every opportunity to participate in the world around them despite their physical disabilities. So while we do not run a cafe every day, we teach our students every day the cognitive, social, daily living and physical skills needed so that every child can reach their full potential. We want them to really believe how valuable they truly are to their families and the communities in which they live.”
Rising Star Academy is a provider of the Jon Peterson Scholarship through the Ohio Department of Education, which enables parents to enroll their children by receiving scholarship dollars to cover tuition costs.
The school, at 140 Richmond Road, operates daily, with special education teachers, occupational therapists and a speech therapist, along with other teachers, who have brought the principles of conductive education over from their studies in Budapest, Hungary, where the system was founded.
Potter-DeCarlo said Rising Star Academy educates, also, with a holistic approach for disabled children, teaching them how to live every day in the world around them.
“Having a staff specifically trained to teach and rehabilitate our students makes us a very specialized and unique program. We transform the lives of children with motor disabilities using an extraordinary approach (of conductive education). We have students who travel from several counties throughout the area, including a student whose mother drives her son from Rittman, Ohio, in Wayne County. We are very proud to say that people come from all over to receive our extraordinary services.
“We really have to thank St. John of the Cross Parish,” she said. “They are so good to us. And we are so grateful for the support of the city of Euclid. We find it equally important to teach the community just how great kids with physical challenges are and how much they can do. It’s a win-win.”
Holzheimer Gail praised the work of the academy, noting it was her second year attending Rising Star Kave.
“Erin DeCarlo and her staff provide a nurturing, supportive environment for these special kids from across Northeast Ohio,” she said. “The cafe offers the kids the opportunity to practice real-life skills. The look of pride and accomplishment on their faces is truly heartwarming to see.”