The smell of freshly brewed coffee fills the cafeteria at Ridgewood High School thanks to the group of special education students running the Rebel Mart – an in-school cafe keeping teachers and students caffeinated throughout the day.
The cafe, run entirely by special education students and their teachers and paraprofessionals, offers a variety of coffee blends made in individual coffee machines along with teas, granola bars and crispy rice-cerealtreats baked by the students themselves.
The Rebel Mart is open during the lunch period and passing periods, giving special education students a chance to gain work experience and have more interaction with their peers.
“This program provides more exposure for our students in the school,” said special education teacher Adam Guzy. “We’re front and center out here and everyone knows about the Rebel Mart.”
Students who work at the Rebel Mart are responsible for taking customers’ orders, picking out the correct coffee blend for each order, brewing the coffee or selecting the food item, and working the cash-only register, giving them the chance to learn how to make coffee and handle transactions with customers.
Rebel Mart opened three years ago but recently expanded their programming to include more students, said Special Education Division Head Michael Maiorano. Previously, only students in the school’s Life Program, who are typically non-verbal, were involved in the mart. This year, the program expanded to include higher-functioning special education students.
Matteo Dattolo, who will graduate from Ridgewood in 2023, is one of the students outside of the Life Program who joined the Rebel Mart staff this year. Dattolo said that Rebel Mart gave him an opportunity to gain work experience and learn new skills.
“I’m a local businessman,” said Dattolo. “I’ve learned how to make coffee and iced coffee and most of the time I work as a cashier.”
Special education teacher Ben DeBruin said that staff members help students like Dattolo count change, use a payment system and tackle tasks like refunds and reward systems. They also handle back-of-house jobs including preparing creams, organizing different types of K-cups, counting inventory and brewing iced coffee.
Amin Abu Al Shaikh thank Tara Ho for her purchase at the Rebel Mart at Ridgewood High School on Dec. 5
“We always want to keep involving the students and not have it just be the staff doing everything,” said DeBruin.
Paraprofessional Mary Jones, who helps students work at the Rebel Mart, said the work experience is invaluable to the students in the special education department.
“Having this coffee shop is amazing for the students to interact with their peers and it really helps with their social skills,” said Jones. “Some of our students down the road will be able to work in a place like this.”
Dattolo, whose favorite drink is a Starbucks iced coffee, hopes to someday work at a Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks or McDonald’s with the skills he has learned at Rebel Mart.
Some students, like Dattolo, are able to work a bit more independently, while others work directly with teachers or paraprofessionals for “hand over hand” work, said Guzy.
“We’ve adapted and modified all of these jobs so that students can do every single job themselves or hand-over-hand,” said Guzy.
With the help of a paraprofessional, Amin Abu Al Shaikh, a non-verbal student who uses a wheelchair, is able to be involved in Rebel Mart. A paraprofessional helps him press a button after each customer’s order that then says “Have a rebel day!”
The special education staff at Ridgewood hope to continue making modifications to allow students to be more involved with the Rebel Mart in ways that allow them to interact with their peers and learn useful skills.
“Rebel Mart can show people that these students are capable of doing these things with a little bit of time, patience and modification,” said Guzy. “You just have to think outside the box a little.”
