Liv Higgins

Sedona Smith (10), Grandbrew customer

From starting with only a small cart and a purpose of receiving job skills in a vocational class, Grandbrew has been able to expand tremendously after being able to meet FDA standards. 

“It is very much like co-workers,” said Mrs. Paisley. “They hold each other accountable they get along even if they are not necessarily friends outside of class they help each other out and then we actually have some people come back to work here as Grandview employees that started as grand brew student employees“

Grandbrew has been used as an opportunity for students in ILC to experience real working experiences and cooperate with other kids. The program is student run so all of the pressure and work is up to the children. This forces students to work together no matter what differences they have with one another to try to get the job done.  

“I love the opportunities it creates for students in and out of the ILC to have relationships” said Mrs Paisley. “Just working at the window it creates this sense of community while they wait and they get to socialize and kind of hang out in an appropriate way”

By working at Grandbrew students have been able to not only learn how to do all the basic work habits like dealing with money and being responsible but also how to work in customer service as well.Working in customer service allows students to gain social 

“We do two weeks of training where we learn how to make drinks we learn how to navigate the hallways and we learn how to appropriately take orders within a classroom,” Mrs Paisley said.

Grandbrew has produced such a positive environment for students and created a space where students want to be a part of it. The fact that students come back from year to year just to volunteer shows how much of a good experience Grandbrew has been able to give so many students.

“We are also lucky to have some people that come back from year to year,” Mrs Paisley said. “The people that were juniors come back as seniors and they are able to train the new wave of employees with us.”  

Working at Gradbrew has created multiple different work opportunities to learn and be able to adapt new skills for students outside of the ILC. It has been able to give class credit and been able to allow students to gain some of the same experiences as students in the classroom.

“It counts as a social studies credit for students,” Mrs. Paisley said. “Working on practical functional skills and then we have volunteers from psychology classes that get credit for volunteering they don’t have to take their psychology final or you can be a peer tutor”

Students inside Grandbrew  have been exposed to a working experience to helps better prepare for a real life situation. This has been able to create bonds and trust between teachers and students due to a shared evel of respect for each other. 

“ It strengthened our relationship as I treated them as adults and employees,” Mrs Paisley said. “They know the level of expectations I have for them and it lets us be closer”