Vanya’s Bean Buggy brews confidence and life skills at St. Martin CES

Sept. 19, 2025

Every Wednesday, the halls of St. Martin Catholic Elementary School in Ennismore are filled with the aroma of fresh coffee as a small cart makes its way from class to class. 

But “Vanya’s Bean Buggy” is more than just a coffee cart — it’s a hands-on life skills project helping students learn confidence, responsibility, and real-world experience.

Grade 7 student Vanya Khytsenko, Grade 6 student Oak Hewitt and Grade 5 student Jameson Bowles run the Bean Buggy together each week.

“Vanya, his life skill is he does announcements, he stocks the fridge and makes the coffee and does the interactions with the teachers. Oak is our money man and his life skill is math and making change and Jameson is our newest member and he’s the server,” said Debbie Walsh, Educational Assistant.

“I think it’s really fun and more people should do this,” said Oak. “I do the counting and math. I’m good at math.”

The idea for the project began about a year and a half ago when Principal Jennifer Fisher suggested bringing a program already running in secondary schools down to the elementary level.

“Our principal brought it to us a couple of years ago because it’s been existing in our secondary schools for many years – coffee carts, they’re called,” Walsh said. “She wondered if we thought it would run well at the elementary school level. So, we started it with Vanya in the spring two years ago and it’s been running very well.”

Money collected from coffee and snack sales goes right back into the Bean Buggy to keep it stocked, creating a self-sustaining project that supports both learning and the school community.

“I think it’s a great skill for the kids and it’s nice for the other students to see what they’re capable of. It’s really giving them a lot of confidence,” Walsh added.