Bright and early on Friday mornings, the SJHHS STEPS students prepare to greet teachers and staff members with a special breakfast delivery called ‘Sip and Snack’.
‘Sip and Snack ‘is a small business on campus that started the second semester of the 2022-2023 school year. It was created by the STEPS program to give students with special needs the opportunity to learn real-life skills. It also helps them fundraise for their program.
“We do it to teach the kids real-life job skills and social skills,” said STEPS teacher Rishika Slezak.
Sip and Snack creates many opportunities for STEPS students because it allows them to practice skills for the workforce and have experiences that they can utilize for jobs after they graduate.
The menu includes an array of breakfast items including breakfast burritos, bagels, coffee, and pumpkin streusel.
Order forms are mailed out to staff members on Monday and then the forms are submitted by Wednesday so they can shop for the necessary products. Friday morning they deliver the orders to each class.
Many people on campus are unaware of the STEPS classroom so it’s great that Sip and Snack helps the staff and teacher get to know them. “I think it’s kind of putting our name out there and what our classroom is and who our students are,” said STEPS teacher, Hailey Cunningham.
Teachers and staff express deep fondness for Sip and Snack as they look forward to it each week.
We want everyone to love our kids as much as we love them,” — Hailey Cunningham
“I thought it was amazing… I want to help the STEPS program raise money or funds for whatever it is they might need,” said Office Manager Meghan Casillas.
“I think it brings a lot of joy to teachers after a long week to have that to look forward to on Friday. It’s really fun to see my students do something that they’re really excited about outside of class and just support them” said drawing and painting teacher Avery Arman.
STEPS focuses on putting the funds from Sip and Snack towards purchasing adaptive supplies like scissors and pencils that are hard to acquire. This greatly impacts how the teachers are able to cater to the different needs of each student. Not only does this allow the teachers to buy supplies, but also allows them to save up for something even bigger. For the first time, they are planning an end-of-the-year field trip for the STEPS kids, which was never possible before.
After their deliveries, the STEPS students always return to class with a contagious smile. Socializing and meeting others is something that they greatly look forward to every week.
“The kids come back when they deliver saying, ‘That was so fun!’, they just really enjoy it and it’s really beneficial,” said Cunningham.
Sip and Snack tremendously benefited the STEPS students by teaching them many real-life job skills and allowing them to spread their kindness throughout the school campus.
