On Jan. 25, the Common Grounds officially opened up for staff with hot drinks for the winter season. On G-days, during 2nd period, staff can walk up and get hot chocolate, tea and/or coffee. If a teacher is busy they also have the option of getting their drink delivered to their classroom.

“We’re ecstatic to have it back. It kind of feels like we’re turning to a sense of normalcy if you will,” said Vocational Coordinator, Transition Specialist and Special Education Teacher, Jessica Hoag.

Prior to COVID-19, the Common Grounds was open for students and staff with a variety of drinks and pastries. It used to be open during periods 1-3 on both B-days and G-days for more students to get experience.

Hoag stated, “Before COVID they would have an intern, so we would have a junior or senior student that did not have an Individualized Education Program that would work with our students to help support them and build that peer relationship.”

LHS hoped that the program could help students, specifically with IEP or 504s, get a well-rounded work experience along with peer interactions. This could then give students an advantage when getting a job outside of school.

“We want to provide them with the opportunities to build their skills here so they can develop them and then go out in the community and be able to potentially work competitively paid jobs,” said Hoag.

While the program is going slowly with more circumstances as for now, they are hoping to get back to how they were before. They are starting with teachers to help the students until they decide whether to bring interns back or not. They are also hoping to get options open up to serving students once again.

Hoag said, “I can imagine if things keep going in the right direction we can hopefully open back up to where things were before COVID next semester but nothing is gonna be the same.”