Business teacher Christopher Meyer has a vision for Chartiers Valley High School.

“Imagine walking in,” he said. “There’s a fully functional coffee shop going on, where students of all ability levels are working hand in hand toward making a really good cup of coffee, while also learning real-world skills that are applicable.”

As part of a business education department needs assessment presentation, he pitched the beverage-sale idea during Chartiers Valley School Board’s Jan. 10 workshop/special action meeting.

“The value that a real-world experience has on an educational experience, that’s something we really, really pride ourselves on and really try to incorporate in our classes,” Meyer said.

Such a concept is applicable to the district’s life skills support, which provides students whose social, academic and behavioral skills are delayed with a program to develop skills in those areas.

“This would be very much a marriage between the life skills department and the business department, where those teachers are working together with their students to build up the business end of the coffee shop,” Julie Franczyk, assistant superintendent for curriculum and assessment, said.

The shop would operate through a partnership with Coffee Tree Roasters, which started 30 years in Squirrel Hill and has grown to nearly a dozen locations. The company already partners with Peters Township, South Park and Thomas Jefferson high schools, plus University High School in West Virginia.

“When we went to Peters Township, it was a really eye-opening experience,” Meyer said about a recent visit he and Franczyk paid to the school. “Students who were nonverbal before, years ago, are now in the front of the line taking orders, talking to customers.”

Franczyk, a former Peters administrator, told of a student she remembered as not speaking who “took my coffee order, made my coffee, served my coffee and did a beautiful job of going through every bit of that real-world experience.”

The shop grosses about $225 per day for the two school periods during which it is open, according to Meyer.

Startup costs for a Chartiers Valley operation are $34,179.40, he said, based on information from Jean Swoope, Coffee Tree Roasters president and owner. The bulk is for coffee-making equipment and related shipping, along with $7,500 in operating expenses.

“None of the profits go back to her,” Meyer said about Swoope and her company. “They’re all kept in-house.”

Proceeds exceeding the amount needed to run the enterprise successfully could be put into the life skills program, he told the board, with money beyond that going to help offset the costs of activities for the school population at large.

“This could be the centerpiece of the high school,” Meyer said. “This could bring extensive community, more so at the high school than we already have.”

Along with a business-related experience, he views the concept as an opportunity for the development of managerial skills.

“What we’re hoping to see in the high school is a fully functional, student-run coffee shop where they’re able to take that leadership,” he said. “Student leadership is huge. Give them responsibility, and they embrace it. They thrive.”

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