Middle School Students See Grocery

Store Is More Than A Place To Shop

By Tanjua Damon

For the second year in a row, middle school students have been offered an opportunity to see that a grocery store is more than just a place to shop through a Newtown Youth Services program that is offered with the help of Big Y.

The goal of the six-week after school program is to show students what a grocery store is all about. It is an opportunity for a community business to reach out to the future professionals of the workforce.

Kim Lombard,  training and development coordinator, believes the program is an excellent way for students to see all the different departments in the grocery store. The after school participants spend time in a different area of the store – bakery, pizza, floral, meat, seafood, and general operations – over the six-week program.

“I think it’s good for the kids to learn what is behind the scenes,” Ms Lombard said. “And learn about the grocery store. Big Y pushes education.”

The middle school students have been meeting on Thursdays from 4 to 5 pm. Night Manager Frank Bombardier spent some time with the students last week in the pizza department of the store showing the group the pizza making process. The students were able to make their own personal pizzas during the hour program.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea. They are young enough to get ideas of what they want to do,” Mr Bombardier said. “They learn there are other jobs than baggers. They are going to go home and tell mom and dad what they learned. Big Y really cares about the community. We’re interested in the next generation.”

Sixth grader Catrina Morgan has enjoyed the program and wanted to see what a grocery store was all about.

“I’m just interested in seeing what kind of things they do here,” Catrina said. “How they make pizzas, bouquets of flowers, and how to package food in the bakery.”

Kevin Peruch returned to the program again this year because he liked it the first year.

“I did it last year,” he said. “I liked it and had fun. If I did work in the grocery store I’d like to work in the bakery. I want to be a dessert chef.”

Knowing what goes on in a grocery store seems to be what geared most of the middle school students to participate in the after school program.

“I wanted to know how it worked,” Claire Berlioux said. “It sounded like fun.”

The students have learned about flower design, how the bakery works, and how to make a pizza, so far. The group will also learn about sanitary and other information in the meat and seafood departments as well as produce and general grocery information during their last few Thursday meetings.

Dora Wood found making pizzas challenging, but also found the other departments interesting.

“Making the pizza. It’s kind of hard to figure out what to do next and all the things you have to do to make a pizza,” Dora said. “I liked the bakery, to see how the ovens work and making icing. My mom used to work in a flower shop. I already knew how to do it.”

Zach Silver has participated in several Youth Services programs and thought the Big Y one would be informative.

“I did other things with Youth Services,” he said. “It was a lot of fun last year. I learned how to spread out the dough. It was fun making the arrangements and I liked the bakery.”

Big Y is a business that is involved with their community, according to Assistant Store Manager Al Vittorio. Providing students with an opportunity to see the grocery business process is just one way Big Y supports its community.

“We have our Big Y Education Express Program,” he said. “They are very big on educating children. It’s for our future work environment.”

Big Y also offers scholarships to students who are continuing their education as well as the Education Express program that helps provide supplies to community schools.

For more information about Newtown Youth Services programs, call 270-4335.