120 Sixth-grade students participated in a pizza project that culminated last week as they ventured to local pizzerias Vinny’s Restaurant and Johnny’s Pizza Shop.
Elementary Computer Teacher Matt Skoczylas and School Counselor Christina Mendillo organized the project.
Skoczylas had completed a pizza project unit with Ellwood City 6th graders before but, according to Mendillo, wanted to expand the project and turn it into an actual simulation.
Students toured the restaurant, made pizzas, and got to learn from the local business owners.
Pizza Joes Corporate and Ellwood City’s Pizza Joes also came to the school for an assembly. Mike Nocera, an ECASD employee and known pizza maker among peers, also taught the students how to make dough from scratch.
Some were then able to come back and participate as customers/judges.
In alignment with Career Readiness standards, Ellwood City 6th graders students have completed “Hartman Shark Tank” for sometime, but Mendillo said the school was ready for a change that provided our students with more soft skills to prepare for their future careers.
“We thought this was the year to blend these two ideas and with the help of the district’s food service director, Jennifer Bell, it became a year long project/reality for 6th graders before.”
Throughout the year in computer class, each student individually worked on components of operating their own pizza shop – creating a name, logo, slogan, website, menu, budget. In Library Skills they wrote a commercial script and in music they wrote jingles for their pizza shop. Eventually the 5th grade students and teachers voted on one favorite name/logo for each of our homerooms.
In January, in the district’s Wolverine Workshop STEAM class, students started working as a unit for their pizza shop and created resumes, had job interviews for the position in the restaurant they wanted, made decorations and placemats, and then practiced soft skills such as shaking hands, answering phones, introducing themselves, and then practiced simulations of running a pizza shop.
Homeroom teachers acted as “owners” and conducted the job interviews and provided guidance with the simulations and allowed much time for practicing and perfecting the experience.
“This project asked a lot of our students and took them out of their comfort zones with general interactions with peers and adults,” says Mendillo. “They didn’t think they would be able to do it, but they did. I think they surprised themselves with what they were able to pull off and being able to come together as a team.”
Each homeroom teacher was asked to pick a manager to oversee the operation of the restaurant and those students had additional pressure, but exceeded expectations according to Mendillo.
“We’re so proud of all the students for stepping up and showing up for this challenging project.”
“Community participation was huge with this project,” concluded Mendillo. “Something similar will definitely be in the works.”
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