Each Friday, MTHS Makes Way for The Hawks Perch Cafe!
Did you know that when you witness a hawk perched, it is often seen as a positive sign, indicating that you are on the right track and that good things are on the horizon. We like to believe the same for our Manchester Township High School (MTHS) Hawks and the launch of The Hawks Perch Cafe this school year.
The Hawks Perch Cafe is a coffee, drink, and treat cart run by the 18-21 year old transition students. Their class utilizes the cart as a way to learn about entrepreneurship, work ethic, responsibility, culinary skills, communication skills, teamwork, money management, and more. Inspired by Renee Strange’s class at Manchester Township Middle School, who runs Mustang Joe’s, The Hawks Perch Cafe was introduced to MTHS by the school’s transition teacher, Ms. Jamie Placido. The café teaches essential social and life skills to students while helping to raise funds for community-based instruction trips. The MTHS cafe cart’s popularity has grown quickly among the student body and staff. It is now a welcome and anticipated part of the school community.
Since their official launch in December 2024, the Hawks Perch Cafe sends out a Google form to the MTHS community each Monday. This is how the building places orders for the delivery of coffee, tea, chocolates, and homemade treats. The Hawks Perch Cafe students then spend time collecting and tallying those orders, predicting and preparing supplies, and even making recipes from scratch, such as their beloved energy bites and chocolate-covered pretzels, for bagging, labeling, and selling. Come Friday morning, which is delivery day, they prepare the hot and iced coffee orders, mix special iced tea and lemonade drinks, and embark on multiple cart trips worth of deliveries with a smile!
The students in the transition class are assigned a Hawks Perch Cafe job each week. Some are greeters, some servers, some manage the money, while others push the cart and provide support during distribution. They hit the ground running on Fridays at 7:30 AM, fulfilling orders and beginning their deliveries. Students and staff welcome the Hawks Perch Cafe team with enthusiasm as they arrive at each classroom with coffees in hand, ready to share what treats are available for additional purchase. Everything is only $1! By providing low prices and quality offerings, it is easy to sell the cart out each week, thanks to the supportive students and staff.
In addition to all of the above-mentioned benefits that The Hawks Perch Cafe provides current students and staff at MTHS, MTMS students who run the Mustang Joe’s Cart now have another familiar opportunity awaiting them when they graduate middle school and move on to MTHS!
The Hawks Perch Cafe’s dream is to grow by expanding to a bigger space, operating more days per week, and eventually offering orders directly to students. But for now, the best part of the cafe cart remains seeing the transition class light up as they walk the halls, proudly delivering orders and interacting with our supportive and generous MTHS community. The Hawks Perch Café is more than a business; it’s a place where students learn, grow, and thrive.
Thank you to all who have helped to make The Hawks Perch Café launch possible! Weekly contributions from Mrs. Passalacqua, who makes cupcakes, and Mr. Hudak, who donated Rice Krispies treats to sell, help tremendously. In addition, the generous donations of hot cups from Silver Bay Bagel Shop and cold cups from Wawa in Manchester help the class keep the café running smoothly. If you are interested in helping to support The Hawks Perch Cafe, they are looking for donations of a refrigerator, ice machine, blender, frother, aprons, straws, and a cart for delivering. Please reach out to jplacido2@mtschools.org to donate.
MTHS truly appreciates the community's continued support and looks forward to what the future holds for The Hawk's Perch Cafe!
