By Sarah Rae

Kiosk giving students practical work experience

Jan 6, 2017 | 4:03 PM

A kiosk designed to give students practical work experience has also re-energized North West College’s North Battleford campus, according to the instructor who organizes it.

Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructor Lesley Weiman said the kiosk program has been beneficial to her students and the college as a whole. She said there’s more of a community feeling both inside and outside the classroom because of the kiosk, which serves up coffee and snacks on campus.

“It definitely brings people together in a localized place and then they meet each other and hang out and have conversations, and also it has given our students a healthier option on campus,” she said. “Then in the classroom itself, whereas before it was really a program where people would come in, do their own thing, might make a friend or two and leave…it’s kind of created a real community, family kind of feeling in the classroom where people are looking out for one another.”

Weiman said the idea for a student-run kiosk was thought up by program coordinator Jennifer Rooke, who was looking to improve ABE’s career and work exploration program as well as provide a better option than vending machines for on-campus snacks.

The program, now in its second year, starts at the beginning of the school year in the ABE class. During the first two weeks, students have basic workshops on skills including data entry and marketing and come up with ideas of how to run the kiosk, including the name and menu. Both years the menu has consisted of items like veggies, fruit cups and baked goods from the Danish Bakery, in addition to coffee, tea and hot chocolate.

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Then throughout the year, students rotate through positions of cashier, server, runner, inventory and manager at the kiosk, which is open three times per day.

Weiman said the program allows students to get work experience throughout the year, rather than in two-week work placements where they were usually not given as much responsibility. They also get hands-on experience in classroom lessons.

“Essentially what we’re doing is getting a business off the ground and they have full ownership of it, from naming it, to the menu, to pricing and things like that, so there a lot of benefits that way,” Weiman said.

She said the program also integrates well with other classroom activities, like the garden students grow for science class. The tomatoes, carrots and peas students grow are sold in the veggie bags.

“All in all it’s a good program that I think the students look forward to,” Weiman said. “And when we’re not open for some reason – maybe my students are all taking their CPR class and cannot run the kiosk that day – it’s noticed, we’re missed.”

Sarah Rae is a reporter for battlefordsNOW. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.

by Sarah Rae

Kiosk giving students practical work experience

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