Serving Others: Student-Run Restaurant Teaches Many Lessons

Cairns and cares: they sound nearly alike, and at Tommie Kunst Junior High School (Santa Maria, CA), the two words are synonymous. Kim Cairns is a "Pitsco Education" Life Skills lab facilitator who cares deeply about her students--what they do, what they say, how they act, what they learn, and everything in between. Cairns has taken caring to new heights with a special activity designed to reinforce some of the life skills students learn at Module workstations. Her students get to plan and then run a 1-day restaurant where teachers, administrators, and staff can come for lunch. The restaurant is a perfect example of a business that has direct connections to the majority of the "Pitsco Education's" Module topics in the room, Cairns says, and she is quick to point out those links. Among them: (1) Careers Modules; (2) Food Modules; and (3) Interior Design Module. "Pitsco Education's" age-appropriate, student-centered K-12 learning solutions are composed of standards-based, relevant hands-on activities delivered via a student-focused learning process. The curriculum follows a systemic methodology and has been implemented in more than 5,000 labs across the country. Learn more at www.Pitsco.com.