Most students in USF St. Petersburg’s College of Education complete their internship hours in a classroom. But a partnership with Artistas Cafe, a coffee shop that employs adults with autism, let five students fulfill their internships in an alternative setting.
“You would think it is a normal coffee shop,” said Michael Glisson, who is considered the “Bean Dean” at Artistas Cafe. “You might even walk away thinking that.”
But Artistas Cafe, located inside Tampa’s Mercedes-Benz dealership, is far from ordinary. Everyone working on the front line of the cafe has been diagnosed with autism.
Artistas Cafe opened in 2011. According to Harold Heller, the dean of USFSP’s College of Education, it was started by Vicky Westra, who has a child with autism.
The name of Artistas Cafe refers to the artistic positions available there, Heller said. Employees are able to create art to decorate the cafe or serve coffee.
When the cafe was opening, board members saw the need for involvement from an educator. A physician on the board contacted Kim Stoddard, a USFSP education professor with a Ph.D. in special education, who joined the board.
As the program progressed the board realized the cafe could provide an alternative internship opportunity for education students at USFSP. Students needed the experience and Artistas Cafe needed help, Stoddard said.
An opportunity was created for both undergraduate and graduate students to intern at the cafe.
Heller said the cafe provides an opportunity for education students to become involved in the “transition” stage, in which students with disabilities transition from high school to becoming independent wage earners. Most other internships only involve the inclusion stage, where students with disabilities are included in the traditional classroom setting.
Artistas Cafe allows students with disabilities to, “develop skills that would make them successful in the work place and in other social setting with other individuals,” Heller said.
He hopes the program will get students excited about the transition concept. He wants to see it spread across Tampa Bay and the state.
“There is very limited work available for individuals in the autism spectrum,” Stoddard said. “USFSP is the only place offering students this opportunity.”
In summer 2012, Amber Sheppard performed her level two undergraduate internship at the cafe. Sheppard, who is prepared to graduate on May 5, selected the alternative internship setting because of her “strong urge to work with young adults that have autism.”
Sheppard’s primary responsibility at the cafe was to create an adult assessment guide for employees. She notes that there are many assessments available for students with autism, but few are made for adults. In order to expand, Sheppard said Artistas Cafe must demonstrate its usefulness, which she believes can only be done through assessments.
Sheppard said the work ethic in Artistas Cafe is “phenomenal.” She recalls only one incident between a customer and an employee during her internship, when a new employee gave a customer the wrong change. Sheppard wanted to step in and solve the problem, but the front line employees stepped in and resolved it quickly. After the incident, the new employee was discouraged, but Sheppard recalls the other employees rallied around him.
“They are not willing to accept the fact that someone is going to fail,” Sheppard said.
Four of the seven employees Sheppard supervised at the cafe were also attending college.
She said Artistas Cafe prepared her for her final internship in the classroom, which she is one week away from completing. Five of the 18 students in her current classroom have a disability.
“It’s a crazy classroom,” Sheppard said. She admits sometimes wondering what she was getting herself into, but she enjoys working with her students.
“It’s a great feeling when you see their faces light up because they got it,” Sheppard said.
She still plans to become a teacher, but her internship has made her much more open to having disabled students in her classroom. If she didn’t wasn’t to teach, she said Artistas Cafe would be the first place she would apply to.
After interning at the cafe, one USFSP graduate was offered a position at the cafe, Glisson said. The graduate accepted the job.
According to Glisson, Artistas Cafe is getting ready to open its second location at Jabil Headquarters in St. Petersburg. Glisson plans for USFSP interns to serve at every Artistas location.
Stoddard said the partnership is in “early stages” and Artistas Cafe and the College of Education are working on more opportunities for students in the master’s program.
