Press Release

Pictured in front, from left, are Jefferson students Marshall Biggs, Israel Gagnon, and Abel Coppens. In the back is Bella Bruner. Photo provided by Warsaw Community Schools.

WARSAW — Rachel Jensen, a special education teacher at Jefferson STEM Elementary School, has recently started up a student-run coffee shop called “The Happy Bean Coffee Shop.”

Students will take teacher orders and create a budget of supplies, along with practicing important social and organizational skills.

As part of this experience, the students will use the money to support a kindness project within the building. The raised funds will be distributed as follows: 25% will go toward supporting a good cause, 25% will go toward a trip to Light Rail, and 50% will be used to purchase new supplies for the coffee shop.

All of the supplies for the initial startup were graciously donated by community donors who responded to the request from Stacey Gagnon on social media.

Gagnon, a Jefferson parent and founder of Trauma Lens Care, shared about her son’s involvement in the program.

“The Happy Bean Coffee Shop is providing a way for my son to help and assist others,” said Gagnon. “It is something he can do and feel empowered by. The Happy Bean Coffee Shop is so much more than a way to meet a state standard or curriculum skill. It is providing community and belonging to children who often are overlooked or marginalized. It is providing (my son) Israel with a voice and an understanding that he can see a need and make a difference to others.”

“The skills to be learned from this experience are endless,” said Jensen. “While the academic skills will be beneficial, I’m also realizing more and more how great this will be for social skills and executive functioning. It’s a fun and unique way for students to not only learn, but to give back to their community.”