Date: Fri 18-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: MARYG

Quick Words:

Back-Door-Cafe-Tex-Mex

Full Text:

Students At The Back Door Cafe Spice It Up With A Tex-Mex Celebration

(with photos)

On the eve of Tuesday, June 1, Newtown High School students at the Back Door

Cafe hosted a celebration dinner for their parents, teachers and school

administrators. The dinner, which was the culminating portion of their final

exam, was a huge success. This year's theme was Mexico.

Prior to the dinner the students spent many weeks studying a unit on Mexico,

learning about the country's customs, art, culture and cuisine. This provided

the foundation for their year end fiesta. Under the direction of their

teachers Dru Saren and Gloria Arsenian, the students began their preparations

several weeks prior to the dinner.

Each of the Back Door's 18 students selected a dish for the seven course meal

menu with a wide array of appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, desserts and

side-dishes to chose from. From this, a menu was devised in which each student

typed a recipe and did Mexican artwork at the bottom of the page. Each family

attending the dinner received a complimentary copy.

The students designed, painted and laminated place mats a la Mexico. They

donned the walls with painted poster scenes of the desert, cactuses, coyotes

and a cattle skull. A life size paper mache amigo and burro were made, and a

coat and hat rack were miraculously transformed into a beautiful donkey cart

which provided for a perfect beverage table for the evening. Streamers,

maracas and Mexican pottery added the finishing touches to the festive decor.

On the eve of the dinner the hostess, Sarah Bennett, greeted the parents and

other guests (totaling 40) while the rest of the students, like clockwork,

worked as waiters and busboys, or doing kitchen prep, clean up, or host

speaker work. As Matt Terhaar closed the evening with a slide presentation

overview of the program, there was an emotional moment as students and

teachers took the opportunity to say good-bye to the graduating students. Dru

said, "Don't worry -- they will be back to see us again -- they always come

back."

So much talent and skill was uncovered during this assignment. The students

loved the opportunity to share their creativity and individuality with one

another and their families.

The Back Door Cafe, located at the St Johns Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook, is

an entrepreneur program. Throughout the year the students have the opportunity

to run a hands-on business. There is inventory, shopping, order-taking,

cooking, preparation, deliveries, book-keeping, and clean up to be done on a

regular basis. The students have learned to handle this workload in nearly a

methodical fashion. The students have often reflected on the BDC as a place

where they can be part of one big happy family which cares deeply about one

another. The more hectic things got, with an abundance of orders or maybe

running out of an important ingredient, the more the students pulled together

as a team to accomplish their goals. The Back Door Cafe stressed their

appreciation to the community for its business this year.