Esko High School opens new coffee shop and flexible learning space

On Monday afternoon, students at Esko High School held a grand opening for their newest student-run business venture, Kahvia Coffee Company.

Kahvia Coffee Company was created by and run almost entirely by students, with help from two business courses at Esko High School.

“Entrepreneurship was something that we learned drastically. And that was kind of the biggest change. And then working on our menus and just kind of starting from the bottom and then being able to use our own ideas and having a lot of freedom in that,” said Esko senior Jack Graddy.

Students wrote grants, toured coffee mills, and built their clientele before opening the doors to their fully fledged business.

“Our teachers definitely set up guidelines for us. But within that, they let us be free thinkers and just come up with ideas. We had a lot of bad ideas, but we also had a lot of great ideas, too. So, I mean, we learned from all those mistakes and then we have a physical coffee shop we can show you guys,” said Esko senior Alec Halvorson.

Kahvia Coffee Company is part of Esko’s newest flexible learning space on campus. The space offers different seating options for students, along with quiet learning rooms to block out noise when trying to work on schoolwork. The entire project hopes to give students, especially PSEO students, another option for studying while in between classes on and off campus.