OSHKOSH – Natalie Lelinski spent a few hours Tuesday afternoon preparing lemonades, coffees and handing out Dilly Bars to her customers.

"I love it, and I want to do more work," she said.

Lelinski is one of seven students working Tuesday at the Oshkosh Area School District's Brewing Futures Mobile CAFE, a new mobile food truck and classroom that helps students with Individualized Education Programs gain employment skills — and will bring sweet treats to the community this summer.

OASD Director of Special Education Linda Pierron said the students are training throughout the school year in their classrooms, but that's not often noticed beyond the schools' walls.

"We wanted better transition outcomes for our students with special needs," Pierron said. "We wanted them to gain employability skills and to be able to contribute to our community."

Brewing Futures Mobile CAFE, which stands for Coaching Ability For Employment, is ADA-accessible and serves a variety of drinks and prepackaged snacks, depending on the occasion, said Kristine Steinhilber, a teacher's assistant at Oshkosh West High School. It will primarily serve beverages such as coffee drinks and lemonades as well as bagels, popcorn, ice cream bars, crackers and other items.

The menu can vary and is created by the students, depending on the event.

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Brewing Futures is the next step for students working in Oshkosh West High School's Wildcat Cafe or Oshkosh North High School's Spartan Snack Shack, both of which offer employment opportunities for district students on Individualized Education Programs.

Steinhilber said the students learn customer service skills, cash handling, inventory and beverage-making skills at those cafes. Last year, the Wildcat Cafes saw 48,000 orders, all completed by those students.

"We know they can work," Steinhilber said. "We want to showcase that to our community."

She hopes to have about 40 students to staff Brewing Futures this summer, with six or seven working per shift. The students can sign up for shifts and also will be responsible for creating a business plan and budget for each event, with the assistance of transition team teachers.

For the students, it's a learning opportunity. But it could be part of a solution to the workforce shortage. Steinhilber said the students are all paid for their work, and Pierron said, within three days of soft opening events, several students were given job opportunities.

"That's just from showcasing those skills at our three events," she said.

Lelinski's father, Dave, has seen how hardworking Natalie and her classmates are. She has a second job at Bath and Body Works.

"They know what they're doing and can be an invaluable part of the workforce," Dave Lelinski said. "Anywhere you go in town today, there's signs for help wanted. We've got people here that can handle those jobs."

Brewing Futures is already booked for around 50 events this summer, Pierron said, including some nights of the Waterfest Thursday night concert series, Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture convention and other community engagements. It can also be booked for employee appreciation events.

Search "Brewing Futures" on Facebook and Instagram to follow along and see where the food truck and mobile classroom is headed next.

Contact Katy Macek at kmacek@thenorthwestern.com or 920-426-6658. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMacek.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh schools' mobile food truck creates jobs for students