First Brew Coffee House opens in North Zulch, giving students real-world work experience
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First Brew Coffee House has opened in North Zulch, bringing a new community gathering spot and a hands-on learning opportunity for local students.
First Baptist Church opened the coffee house Wednesday. The staff includes students from North Zulch High School, who earn academic credit for their work there.
Zailey Crocker, a junior at North Zulch High School, is one of the student baristas. She said the job connects directly to her coursework.
"This will go through my tourism credit in FCCLA and so that'll help me get further into our new program going into hospitality, and that'll further my experiences," Crocker said.
Crocker said the opportunity is pushing her to grow both professionally and personally.
"I only have 2 years left here. And so it's really pushing me to be a better person here, and then also walking in faith with it being connected to the church," Crocker said.
Fellow barista Brayden Stewart said the job is teaching him skills he expects to carry forward.
"It's going to help me manage that, work well with other people, and work well with my managers and stuff like that. And I feel like this is really helping me do that," Stewart said.
Crocker said the coffee house is already resonating with the broader community.
"I've had a lot of people come in and say that it's reminding them of old North Zulch, which is kind of healing because I feel like we've broken as a community, not really having somewhere to go and not having a place to be united like this," Crocker said.
Stewart echoed that sentiment.
"We've needed something like this for a long time, something for people just to come and chill if they want to. So it's been pretty exciting and happy for everyone," Stewart said.
Board President Abigail Noel said the experience students gain goes well beyond coffee-making.
"Really, this is a retail position, a marketing position, hospitality and tourism, and a little bit of everything else in between, right?" Noel said.
Noel said the goal is to prepare students for a range of futures.
"And really get them set up for some, you know, for a future in either entrepreneurship, restaurant, marketing," Noel said.
Pastor Matt Murray of First Baptist Church said the community response has been encouraging.
"It's been a great, a great response to see everybody showing up and supporting the mission and the goal of what we're trying to do here," Murray said.
First Brew Coffee House is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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