Third graders at Lovejoy Elementary School are doing something besides taking tests and studying this week. The students are celebrating the grand opening of their first restaurant called “The Leopard Spot Café” and are giving back to the community by donating their proceeds to some area non-profit organizations.

Parents and members of the Lovejoy ISD community have been invited to be the first customers of the café where students are showcasing all the skills they have learned in their subject areas this year. The students have filled out employment applications, finished job interviews and completed training to become managers, wait staff, kitchen help, host staff, cashiers and bus help.

“This is a 100 percent student operation.” said Cynthia Copeland, Lovejoy Elementary third grade teacher. “Students are greeting customers, taking orders, adding and subtracting money, counting back change, preventing the spread of germs and being good problem solvers. The students are so proud of the fact that in art classes, they have created the menu covers and practiced their songs in music to provide entertainment for their restaurant.”

Students have researched area non-profit organizations for their project and have voted to donate the proceeds to the Allen Community Outreach, and the Save Jett the Leopard fund.

This year’s theme is “Just Desserts.” Students are serving chocolate chip cookies from Elke’s Restaurant in Allen. Also on the menu are Chick-Fil-A brownies, Arby’s turnovers and cupcakes from Hands on Cake Design and Kimi’s Cakes.

This is the first time Lovejoy Elementary School has participated in a project of this kind and is an example of a capstone project that are year-end challenges that many classes complete throughout the Lovejoy School District.

‘This capstone project teaches students to compute their costs and earnings maintain their records and gather data about their customers’ dessert preferences to recommend selections or changes for next year’s restaurant.” added Copeland.

“We hope it will become an annual event for all third grade classes at Lovejoy Elementary School.”

Each of the third grade classes of Lovejoy Elementary School teachers, Courtney Alford, Lori Carder, Cynthia Copeland, Carla Parker and Sheilah McTee were responsible for running the day-to day operations of the Leopard Spot Café.