Since coming to Hanahan Elementary, special services teacher Anna Barrett has made a huge impact on the students in her classroom – and beyond.
In particular, she has helped start a new initiative this year that involves her students making and serving coffee to teachers and staff in the building every Friday.
The initiative is twofold: it shows the school’s teachers some love, and it is also teaching Barrett’s students communication and social skills as they meet different teachers throughout the building.
Her goal is to promote inclusiveness with her students and the general education population, and she also wants to teach her students self-advocacy for when they leave her classroom.
“I feel it’s a big responsibility on me to make sure when they grow up and they leave me finally, they’re set up for success,” she said.
Coming to Hanahan Elementary
“We took 24-hour care of kids with multiple disabilities and I loved it,” she said. “My goal was to be a special services teacher – no matter what.”
After college, Barrett moved home and was hired as an interventionist in Clarendon County and was then offered a teacher assistant job at Pattison’s Academy in Charleston. Soon after college, she started working on her master’s degree at Francis Marion College through SC-CREATE, a scholarship program sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Services. Barrett acquired her master’s Degree in learning disabilities in 2021.
Barrett did her student teaching at Hanahan Elementary and fell in love with the school – particularly its special services program. She also subbed at the school after she graduated.
“I walked into this classroom and I was like, ‘I want this,’” she said.
Barrett loves the Hanahan area. She just married her husband, Cole Capps, in March and the newlyweds have made their home in Hanahan with their English cream golden retriever, Randy.
She was actually hired for the 2021-2022 school year to lead Hanahan Elementary’s self-contained preschool classroom, but when she learned a special services teacher was transitioning to a new role, Barrett went to Principal Stephanie Mitchell, made her case, and everything worked out. She now teaches students with mild disabilities, and was named the school’s Rookie Teacher of the Year last year.
Barrett’s students are with her for the duration of their elementary education.
“It’s definitely more of a family than it is a class,” Barrett said. “We can tell they love each other so much, and they know we love them.”
While they are in her care, Barrett is working to prepare them for life after their elementary school experience.
“I just have such a passion and I love it so much, and I want everyone else to feel that same way,” she said. “My goal is to teach them the skills they need to be in the real world.”
One of the ways she is doing that is through her class’s Brew Crew initiative, which started back in October.
Brewing up some love
Friday is Coffee Day at Hanahan Elementary, and it is when Barrett’s students push a cart of coffee and sodas through the hallways of the school to deliver a little pick-me-up to teachers who have placed an order ahead of time.
“We give them (the students) a lot of responsibility – they’re in charge of putting drinks together and doing order forms,” she said. “It’s teaching them real-life things…we’re doing things that they’re going to need to know how to do in the real world.”
The students serve at least 80 cups of coffee every Friday. The class starts making the cold brew on the Wednesday prior because of its high demand (“Cold brews are a big hit,” Barrett said). Before they start their Friday rounds, Barrett and her teaching assistant, Stacy Jones, help the students put on their matching “Brew Crew” aprons, which sport the Hanahan Elementary logo created by kindergarten assistant Paige Hadwin.
The cart they operate features a poster of an orange Volkswagen beetle with a plate that reads “Brew Bug.” Because Barrett has such a big class, her students will split up and take turns delivering the coffee in groups. As they travel through the hallways, somebody is in charge of steering the cart and someone else helps Barrett with the clipboard containing the list of teachers they are scheduled to visit.
The students practice saying “please” and “thank you”, and then wrap up each delivery with “Have a nice day!”
The initiative is being supported with donations from the school community – coffee, cups, etc. Barrett said even teachers who do not drink coffee have made donations.
The class will charge for treats on special occasions, like at a recent family engagement night when they sold items to visiting families. The students will also do themed treats around the holidays.
“We couldn’t do it without everyone here,” Barrett said. “It’s not just me and Stacy – it’s a whole team of people who step in and help out.”
Barrett also recently received a Berkeley Electric Cooperative Bright Ideas Grant. Most of it is being used to support the Brew Crew, but some of it was also spent on a field trip to Bitty & Beau’s Coffee in Charleston; the coffee shop is run by people with disabilities.
“It was really cool,” she said. “I wanted to take them to a place where they could see: you could work here one day – you have the credentials to work here.”
Feeling encouraged
Hanahan Elementary’s faculty and staff members do not shy away from supporting Barrett’s students; in addition to the donations, a couple of teachers wear t-shirts that read “We love the Brew Crew” when the group makes their coffee rounds on Fridays. The school recently came together to celebrate Disability Awareness Month in March.
That support continues to encourage Barrett, who is looking forward to more opportunities to help her students grow. She wants to bring the Special Olympics to her school and start exploring more “buddy” opportunities to go with it.
“I would love for our kids to be able to push out next year, and I think the Brew Crew is a good way for teachers to see our abilities,” Barrett said.
Barrett tries to show everybody, not just her students, that it is okay to be different – because everybody is different.
“I’m making a positive difference by just exposing my class and the school to all abilities,” she said. “The exposure aspect of it for my kids, and for the teachers of other students…is what’s making a big difference.”