Students get real-world business experience at Williamsport Area SD

Williamsport Area High School’s new Alabaster Coffee bar, opening this fall, will be more than just a pick-me-up for students; it will also be a learning lab, providing students with hands-on experience with the technical and soft skills needed to own and operate a small business. The mobile java station will be run entirely by students. The school’s Future Business Leaders of America and accounting students created and implemented the business model, and the coffee bar will be managed and staffed by the School-to-Work program students. Those involved in the project have been working with Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Co. and the associated local business owned by Williamsport Area alumnus Karl Fisher over the past year.

The enterprise was funded by a $10,000 award from the Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Community Grant Program last fall, and a $9,500 allocation of Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) dollars, arranged via the district’s education foundation and distributed through the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania.