With the success of the in-house coffee brewing service, Transition Perks, which is operated by the Transition Program students at South Campus, has begun the next step in the form of a storefront coffee shop.

Transition Perks began in 2012 after a Keurig coffee machine was donated to Transition Program teacher Jackie Boskovich’s classroom.

Transition Perks started as a coffee deliver service at SC for staff, but has recently opened up a storefront café that is operated at Tropical Sno’s location, 1602 Hillgrove Ave. in Western Springs from 7:30-10:30 a.m. on school days, Transition Program Vocational Coordinator Dave Paske said.

Transition Perks is using Tropical Sno’s storefront rent free during the school year when it is not being used by Tropical Sno owner Nick Cozzi, whose brother, John Cozzi ‘14, is in the transition program, Paske said.

“We want everyone to know that we are not taking over Tropical Sno. It will return in the spring,” Paske said. “It was a gracious contribution by Nick and we appreciate his support very much.”

The café is run solely by the Transition Program, a program that helps prepare students between the ages of 18-22 for independent living after high school, Paske said.

“I am excited about seeing new people at the coffee shop,” Transition student and barista Grace Furjanic ‘14 said. “It will make me very happy that I will see new people.”

Transition Perks will use professional coffee machines donated by Bunn and Stewart’s Coffee to sell coffee, tea, hot chocolate and steamers, along with gluten-free muffins and brownies from Flùr Bakery.

The profits from Transition Perks and other Transition work programs will be added to a scholarship fund that already contains $5,000. All students in the Transition Program are eligible to apply for scholarship money and use it to help meet post-secondary goals. Individual students will also be able to sell LTHS Transition Perks Private Label coffee canisters to family and friends and then receive 75 percent of their earned profits into their individual scholarship funds, Paske said.

“I think that is what makes us more unique,” Paske said.  “We have this $5,000 scholarship account available to all and we have individual coffee sales that will be deposited into the students’ accounts. We are really excited about this.”

Transition students had the opportunity to apply to either the barista crew or the janitorial crew through a realistic job hiring experience.

“We wanted to make this as authentic as possible,” Paske said. “So we did job postings and they filled out applications and we did interviews for the two positions.”

The baristas will gain communication and social skills, while the janitorial crew will clean, check inventory and restock shelves. The skills that they acquire at the shop can be applied to competitive employment elsewhere, Paske said.

“Our ultimate goal is to get our [students] as ready as possible and as independent as possible for life after high school,” Paske said.