Local cafe helps students with special needs

MILAN, Tenn. — The Bulldog Cafe opened in late 2018 and is run by the work-based learning program at Milan High School, along with the school’s special education students.

“When he finally has to leave, it’s going to break my heart, because he’s a totally different person than from when we got here,” said Milan High School parent Renee Pitcock.

In the cafe, the students learn communication and organization skills, and how to make coffee.

“The kids have basically done everything since we started,” said Milan High School special education teacher Kevin Bryowsky. “They were the ones looking up the equipment we needed, figuring out how much it’s going to be, looking at reviews, trying to figure out what the best products are.”

The cafe is donation-based, and all money goes back to the students’ education.

Parents of special needs children say the cafe is invaluable.

“He didn’t want to talk to people, let people touch him, look at people, because he has autism, but now he comes in here and he greets the customers, and he delivers things,” Pitcock said.

If the cafe is successful enough, the school has bigger plans.

“To be able to open somewhere where these students, whenever they do graduate, and they want something to continue, that we may have a place where we could have a coffee shop for them to go to and kind of run,” Bryowsky said.

Of the eight students who have worked in the Bulldog Cafe, two have already gotten jobs since their graduation.