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Stag Café is Back in Business
The first Stag Café of the year is always a big deal – highly anticipated by the entire student body, with a tinge of apprehension on the part of the Entrepreneurship students who run the beloved snack bar. There are always bumps in the road on opening day, but the obstacles – and solutions – are what make Stag such a fantastic, unique learning opportunity.
Stag’s grand opening for the 2024-25 school year was just the tip of the iceberg. Under the surface were weeks of preparation by the Entrepreneurship 12 classes – everything from determining the business structure, from CEO to kitchen workers, and going through job interviews to planning the menu.
“It’s all an organizational structure they’ve designed themselves in the first couple weeks of class,” explained entrepreneurship teacher Ms. Mariel Solsberg. “They’re designing the actual structure and applying for positions.”
All 31 students went through job interviews where one student faces a panel of between four and 10 interviewers, made up of teachers, interns and administration staff. If that sounds intimidating, that’s because it’s meant to be. “We want to give them the experience of having to go in and sell themselves,” Ms. Solsberg related.
The Entrepreneurship class includes some students who took the course in Grade 11 and came back for a second go-round. They are acting as teaching assistants – going between the teachers and first-time students – and their help has been invaluable.
“The TAs were a huge help on opening night,” said teacher Mr. Liam Ashton. “This was probably the best opening night in the last few years, and that is due to the TAs. They are an unbelievable resource.”
Responsibility for the first Stag of the year fell to the E block class. The student response was, not surprisingly, tremendous. Stag opened at 7:30 p.m., and the line was still snaking downstairs into the Friesen Centre two hours later. This proved a little overwhelming for the students running the restaurant, and a lack of communication first caused them to make too little food, then too much. When they were left with extra food at the end of the night, however, the students came up with the solution of taking the leftovers to the Houses and selling them at half price.
After Stag closed for the night, the students cleaned up and held a debriefing session – during which they discussed the communication issues and some solutions. The G block class, which took over Stag on Tuesday, had the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the first night, but also had the chance to make some errors of their own – and learn from them.
“Mistakes aren’t the end of the world,” Mr. Ashton said. “They’re an opportunity for growth.”
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
