Students with special needs spread sunshine with drink cart
CHICORA — Rather than groaning before starting another Tuesday shift at the coffee shop, the young workers of the Sunshine Station were nothing but smiles on Tuesday, Feb. 17, matching the namesake of the Karns City Area Elementary School program.
The Sunshine Station is a monthly project by teachers of students with special needs at the school, in which the students make drinks and deliver them to teachers around the school. It started in January 2025 — Kindness Month — and the station was such a hit the support staff decided to keep it going once a month.
Kelly Sadowski, emotional support at Karns City Area Elementary, said the youth-run coffee shop is not only a fun activity for her students to take part in each month, it gives them numerous experiences that help develop their skills. Plus, the interaction with other teachers and students is good for their socialization.
“We wanted to teach more life skills,” Sadowski said. “It’s nice because it builds social skills and all the skills you need to be a functioning adult.”
According to Sadowski, after a successful first run of the Sunshine Station, teachers at the school started a T-shirt campaign to raise money to keep it going for many more months. The campaign raised more than $300, and now every day the Sunshine Station is open for business, the teachers wear the shirts to commemorate the occasion.
“We made $350 and that will fund us through the rest of the year,” Sadowski said. “And (the shirts) kind of raise awareness of what we’re doing.”
Each morning that the Sunshine Station is open, the students in support classes get to work early. They help prepare water for tea, brew some coffee and get ice for iced coffee orders. Teachers and staff at the school have already placed their orders ahead of time through an online survey provided by Sadowski and the support staff, so the students just have to prepare those orders.
The supplies are all paid for through the money the support staff raised through its T-shirt campaign, as well as some sponsors.
The Sunshine Station classroom was buzzing Feb. 17 as students took cups from the stack over to one of the urns to fill with hot water or coffee. A teacher was stationed at each location to make sure the students got the right amount of water or ice, and to help prevent them from getting hurt by the hot water.
After each student does their part to make a drink or several drinks, they place them on the Sunshine Station cart, and head out with a teacher to make their deliveries.
“They do the inventory, make the drinks,” Sadowski said.
The students look forward to going around the school with the coffee cart, piloted by a teacher, and meeting the people who ordered beverages. The school’s staff enjoy it just the same.
“They love us,” Sadowski said of the staff who order drinks.
And even though only the adults get drinks, the students who are in their classrooms during the delivery get to see the Sunshine Station staff and vice versa. It’s another benefit of the program, because some of the students who need extra support don’t spend as much time with many of their peers.
“All the kiddos who didn’t know the other kids get to meet each other,” Sadowski said.
Carolyn Kelly, autistic support at Karns City Area Elementary, said the Sunshine Station is for students who are in emotional or autistic support programs at the school. She said the students who help out look forward to working the Sunshine Station each month.
“About 12 to 15 kids help out,” Kelly said. “They need more help with developing skills.”
Alyssa Jeffers, a sixth grade student, was selected to be the manager of the Sunshine Station. She said she likes making drinks on the days the Sunshine Station is open. She prefers to pour the cold drinks and iced coffee, in particular, because the process is a little safer than that of hot drinks.
“With the hot I burn my hands,” Alyssa said.
Cole McElroy, a fourth grade student at Karns City Area, also enjoys working the Sunshine Station because he gets to do some tasks to help out teachers and other staff at the school.
“I like getting the coffee and tea,” Cole said.
Sadowski said there are plans to expand the Sunshine Station, possibly next school year, by adding more drinks or even increasing how often it is offered. Additionally, the school is starting some Big Brother-style programs in which older students meet and speak to students in support programs.
“The kids would do it every day if they could,” Sadowski said about operating the Sunshine Station. “Towards the end of the year we’ll probably do it more often.”
