Efforts to bring a new program teaching life skills are underway at Fennimore Middle and High School. Katie Koestler, the exceptional education needs teacher in the high school, is seeking a $1,750 grant with the help of Kim Droessler, Technology Integration and ESEA Coordinator at Fennimore Elementary, from the Dubuque Racing Association. Those funds, if received, will allow Koestler and her students to open up the CANteen coffee shop.

The program, open to any high school student in the district, would focus on teaching basic skills needed for employment. Koestler would serve as the CANteen supervisor.

The grant status will be announced this summer. In the meantime, another student has stepped forward and received permission from the Fennimore School Board to begin a coffee cart at the middle and high school as a fundraiser for the CANteen project. Approved during the March school board meeting on Wednesday, April 14, Savannah Kemerling will work with business teacher Samantha Goss to develop the project. The project will serve as a course project in Goss’s class, as well as helping Kemerling as she seeks to earn a Girl Scout Gold Star award, one of the Girl Scout’s three highest awards.

One of the goals of the CANteen program is financial self-sustainability. Funds from Kemerling and the grant would be used to cover start-up costs and sales would provide for program maintenance.

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For the complete article, please see the March 22, 2018 issue of the Fennimore Times.