Brattleboro Union High School is launching a new initiative that combines career readiness, academic credits, and community service. The pilot program, called CAVE Kitchen (Culinary Agriculture Vocational Education), offers students a therapeutic work environment while they learn both soft and hard employment skills.
Unlike traditional classroom settings, CAVE Kitchen allows students to earn academic credit while working in a commercial-grade kitchen and operating a storefront.
Last week, students led a tour of the facilities, which include a flourishing kitchen garden, a fully equipped commercial kitchen, and a campus storefront named The Daily Bear. The atmosphere was professional: students were familiar with the kitchen, moving with purpose, chopping garlic scapes, loading industrial dishwashers, and preparing home-made snacks like chocolate zucchini snack cakes.
Beyond cooking, the program immerses students in the full scope of food service. Students handle everything from menu planning and knife skills to ordering supplies and maintaining a clean work environment. Students also help grow and harvest produce in the garden, giving them a seed-to-sale understanding of food systems.
Importantly, CAVE Kitchen builds technical skills and a place to learn and practice soft skills crucial to long-term employment success; professional communication, teamwork, punctuality, and problem-solving.
A student-run store, The Daily Bear, will be open to the 45 businesses located on the Winston Prouty campus, as well as to the general public. It will offer grab-and-go meals, providing a convenient, on-site food option, and valuable business experience for students.
Winston Prouty “campus tenants…are impressed by the garden and are enthusiastic about the prospect of being able to pick up a drink and snack right on campus someday soon,” says Emily Webb, campus director of Winston Prouty Center.
Chloe Learey, executive director of Winston Prouty Center, said she is “inspired by The Daily Bear. It is a great example of what we hope to accomplish on the Prouty campus, offering space for creative, innovative opportunities that help strengthen and connect our whole community.”
This project is a part of a four-year University of Vermont Extension 4-H grant called Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture across America (YEA), funded by the USDA. There are four other projects in New England funded by this grant, all focusing on improving access to 4-H experiential learning opportunities.
Unlike many grant-funded programs that vanish when funding ends, CAVE Kitchen is built for sustainability. Proceeds from The Daily Bear will be reinvested to support the continuation of the program.
CAVE Kitchen’s value goes beyond being just a culinary class, it’s also a therapeutic, empowering environment that prepares students for real-world employment, while building confidence and life skills. With built-in sustainability and strong community ties, this program could become a model for other school districts seeking creative, meaningful ways to prepare students for life after graduation while also meeting students where they are.
Read more about the program in the Brattleboro Reformer’s July 25th, 2025 article on the student’s successes.
Written by: Adelaide Petrov-Yoo