Mineola High School learners in the “Business to Barista” program gain real-world experience, earn valuable, industry-recognized business certifications, and get paid while they learn.
Café at Synergy is located at the district’s Synergy building where students, faculty and community members can enjoy coffee, snacks and other beverages before, between and after classes. The café also has breakfast and lunch grab and go options. The café features plenty of seating for reading, studying or quietly collaborating on projects while enjoying their beverage of choice.
The Café is staffed by seniors who, in addition to gaining work experience, are also taking asynchronous business courses that directly relate to the skill sets they are employing as part of the Café @ Synergy team. As a bonus for their future, each of these courses ends in a professional certification including Communication Skills for Business Certification, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Certification and Intuit QuickBooks Online Certified User Certification.
The learners are also deeply engaged in the Café @ Synergy business model, participating in brainstorming sessions on improving the customer experience. They are working with the innovative Intuit Design for Delight program which delves into customer engagement, loyalty and satisfaction and design thinking skills that will greatly benefit them in the future. Students in the program also have the option to complete the Intuit Design for Delight Innovator Certification which helps promote creativity, critical thinking, complex problem solving and collaboration.
“Mineola’s Cafe at Synergy program is a true example of experiential learning in
action,” Nicole Culella, district coordinator of Career, Community and STEAM Opportunities, said in a press release. “It allows students to learn essential business concepts and principles while being fully engaged in the day-to-day operations of a student-run business open to the public.”
Café @ Synergy is open to the public on school days only from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
