My Day Café - Then and Now
In the days when Gateway was being assembled, idea by idea. The first ideas were confined to the tasks required to welcome students and educate them until graduation day. After that, the ideas of fitness and counseling went from wish to fruition. But there was a troubling reality there in the periphery. How do our students go from the graduation stage to the stage of young adulthood? What is the key to avoiding the couch and embracing a career? This was not just a Gateway issue; it was evident in the community at large as well.
Board members, parents, and faculty alike saw the need for a real-world vocational connection. The goal was to create an element of the “Gateway Way” that would help students sail past the graduation precipice and onto a professional path. The original thought was to create a kitchen where students could make and sell pies and box lunches to sell to neighboring businesses, students, and faculty.
All good ideas, like flour for a pie crust, have to be sifted though. Upon further review, board members came to discover several factors that would fly counter to the original idea. First, businesses of this type don’t last over time. Secondly, that interaction with other types of students was a better way to go in forming our young Gryphons. Thirdly, it was quickly observed that only a few students are interested in life in the kitchen.
Head scratching commenced. The discernment led to the realization that we needed to broaden our focus from a business to a comprehensive vocational program in which the kitchen would be a launching pad to all of the career interests and possibilities of our diverse group of students. In 2013, Martha Pietsch was chosen to help us build a program. But before the building, there was some teardown to do. A summertime “Dad’s Demolition Day” took place to remove walls and floors and prepare for a new, commercial-grade kitchen. It is not difficult to get men to volunteer to tear stuff up, by the way. Through a grant from Sysco Education for schools and other grants and donations, the kitchen took shape. Time to fire up that stove!
My Day Café, since then, has cooked up dozens of benefits for Gateway students and families. The major change for students is the professional responsibility required in a commercial kitchen. With the words, “Yes, Chef,” each student wraps their mind around the idea of what being a professional will ask of them. In their first jobs, they will have a boss, and there is not usually a lot of negotiating to be done. This is particularly true when there is fire and sharp objects everywhere.
Nowadays, Gateway students begin their vocational journey in the My Day Café, and then they begin a series of internships in businesses in the community. We feel confident in sending them out, fortified with the transferable skills the café has provided them. They know how to take direction, follow procedures, be observant of others, and do their task in harmony with their coworkers. Along the way, they also obtain crucial skills for independent living in the near future: how to plan and cook a meal, how to maintain a safe kitchen, how to prepare and follow a budget, and how to be a host for others.
So if anyone asks what they make at My Day Café, tell them they make successful futures for wonderful young people.
As Director of Faculty Advancement, Stephen collaborates with other team members to onboard newly hired faculty members, mentor new and veteran faculty members, and facilitate programs for faculty success. Additionally, Stephen teaches Spanish and English, and he is always eager to teach guitar to interested students.