ECHS Special Education Program Introduces New Student-Run Kitchen

Students Learn Real Life Experience, Will Operate School Bakery and Coffee Business

A look inside the new special education student-run kitchen at ECHS.

Story and photo by Peytin Manor, Edmonson Voice Student Reporter:
Edmonson County High School’s special education program has introduced a new student-led kitchen to their classroom. The classroom kitchen will be utilized for students' daily life and job skills. Students will participate in a wide range of cooking and job simulation activities.

With the kitchen now complete, special ed instructor Chaundra Vincent has big plans for her students. They will be running their own classroom-based business, where students will learn job skills pertaining to baking and making coffee drinks to operate a cake and coffee cart in the school. A survey was sent out to all teachers and staff to determine whether or not there was enough interest in their business idea.

Mrs. Vincent has taken this business plan a step further by collaborating with the marketing teacher at the school, April Hennion. Mrs. Vincent's class will learn the process of designing and creating a logo for their business from the initial steps to pressing the logo on shirts and aprons.

Proceeds from the cake and coffee cart will go towards community-based field trips. Last school year, the class visited the Edmonson County Public Library, Sun Valley Feed Mill, the Brownsville Post Office, and Mammoth Cave National Park. Students are exploring real-world jobs during these field trips. The class is looking forward to visiting even more places in the community this year.

Additionally, this past spring the program was awarded a grant from the UK Ag Extension Office for a container garden. The students plan to grow foods to be used in the kitchen for cooking activities.

Mrs. Vincent stated, “I wanted to tell you how thankful I am to have the support of my administrators, classroom team, school, and community. Without which, none of what we do would be possible. Such wonderful support allows us to give students real-world educational experiences that will serve them beyond the classroom.”

Additional support has come from other places, including the lower base cabinets that were donated by Magna. All kitchenware and supplies were donated by families, friends, and community members. School funds covered the cost of the stove and moving upper-cabinets from another classroom. The school maintenance department installed the entire classroom kitchen. 

Beyond the kitchen, Mrs. Vincent has plans to continue partnering with Coach Jody Booth and Coach Brad Meredith to keep the Lady Cats and Wildcats looking sharp on the court this season with their laundry skills. The students have learned to operate the washer and dryer, how to sort by size, hang and fold, and deliver uniforms to the locker rooms.

Every life skills activity is associated with a job; Mrs. Vincent explains to her students how these skills correlate with an equipment manager. She is giving students the life skills they need beyond the classroom from cooking in the kitchen to developing real-world job skills.