ZELIENOPLE — The Strand Theater Initiative's cafe that opened earlier this year is giving special education students from Seneca Valley a chance to get real world training that will make them job-ready for the future.

When the Strand Box Office & Café opened in February, 11 students from the Seneca Valley special education program began working in the coffee shop weekday mornings, said Jessica Pyle, transition coordinator for the school district.

It's part of the school district's community-based vocational training program, she said.

Students run the cafe under the supervision of a district job coach, taking orders, running the cash register, making specialty coffee drinks and cleaning the facility. It was the natural next step for students who started out in the Raider Roast cafe, Seneca Valley's on-campus coffee shop in the senior high school that is also run by the special education students. The goal is to make students ready for the competitive work force, Pyle said.

“It's mutually beneficial,” Carter said. “We get staffing to help us run the cafe. They get very valuable real world customer service experience … It genuinely is a real business they are helping to manage.”

The students staff the cafe from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays through the end of the school year on June 8. They'll return to the cafe when the 2018-19 school year starts back up. The cafe is also open before shows and performances at The Strand Theater.

A full story will appear in the Butler Eagle.