By LINDSAY VANHULLE
lvanhulle@record-eagle.com
March 14, 2008 04:00 am TRAVERSE CITY -- The line of hungry students stretched down the hallway, and Bailey Jacobs worked as fast as she could. Every time someone placed a bagel order, Bailey and her classmates reached into paper bags and pulled out one of any number of flavors -- cinnamon sugar, cheddar herb, blueberry. As the line began to shrink, Bailey, 9, inhaled deeply, relieved to finally catch her breath. "This is probably the most money we've ever earned," the earnest fourth-grader said. Bagel sales are a weekly staple at Grand Traverse Academy, a public charter school in East Bay Township. Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades sell the breakfast treats to both students and their parents at two stations throughout the building. Students in kindergarten through 12th grade participate in some business activity throughout the year, providing them experience with money management, customer service and supply and demand. "It's so powerful because it's real for our students," Principal Allyson Apsey said. "It's real-life learning, so we can incorporate so many different things." Like math skills. And, since the businesses are part of the school's social studies curriculum, they get an early taste of basic economic principles. Besides the bagel sales, students in both the elementary and secondary levels run coffee shops each day before school, serving flavored cappuccino and hot chocolate to their peers. A group of students operates a school store during lunch time on Tuesdays. And students will sell various products throughout the year, most recently tumblers emblazoned with the school logo. Students make the business decisions, Apsey said, and they decide together how best to solve any problems. Last week, for instance, the bagel vendors sold out of a particular flavor. "They had a few dissatisfied customers," Apsey said. "This week, they had to figure out how to fix that." Students say the lessons are working. Matt Day, 11, capped warm drinks at one of the school's coffee shops Wednesday morning. Nearby, seventh-grader Sophie Schuetze, 12, asked the young customers if they wanted ice in their cups before running the machine. When drinks cost anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar, "You learn how to count money and give them their change," said Matt, a sixth-grader. Sophie said she enjoys being able to help others start their day with something warm to drink. Plus, she said, there are some perks that come with being a junior barista. "If I ever get a job at Espresso Bay or Starbucks, I'll know how to use everything."
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Photos
From right to left, Grand Traverse Academy fourth-graders Chance Willis, Nathan Moore and Bailey Jacobs, all 9-year-olds, organize bagels for a rush of customers Wednesday morning at Quality World Cafe on the grounds of the GTA campus in East Bay Township. The three are participating in the school's social studies curriculum that exposes pupils to basic economic principles, including money management, customer service and supply and demand. Record-Eagle
Grand Traverse Academy fourth-grader Riley Van Houzen, 9, retrieves change for a customer Wednesday morning at Quality World Cafe on the grounds of the GTA campus in East Bay Township. Record-Eagle