Brixner Junior High’s Goals class starts new business   

Dec. 19, 2024 / In December, Goals students at Brixner Junior High started a new business, Goals Gourmet, and learned how to create festive cookie mix jars for the holiday season. For its inaugural project, Goals Gourmet students offered the mixes to staff at Brixner’s feeder schools — Peterson, Ferguson, and Stearns elementaries — as well as Mazama High School.

Goals students fulfilled numerous orders in mid-December, practicing skills like measuring and following recipes. Goals teacher TeLana Burns kicked off the project by purchasing aprons and teaching students the essential skills they needed to prepare and package the cookie mixes in seasonally decorated jars.

Though starting with a limited number of orders, Burns hopes to expand Goals Gourmet in the spring and beyond, providing more opportunities for students to engage in meaningful projects.

"I am working toward a greater understanding of inclusivity in our schools and community," Burns said. "Teaching our students functional skills such as cooking will give them lifelong experience while increasing their independence."

Brixner’s Goals program is an individualized education classroom designed to offer a supportive and structured environment that caters to students’ specific learning needs. The Goals program addresses academic objectives, social-emotional development, behavioral targets, and life skills, using strategies customized to each student’s pace, learning style, and needs.