Welcome to City Barbeque in Eastgate, where before opening hours on an early Thursday morning you just might be greeted by a few very friendly and eager faces beaming from the dining room area. This dedicated and hard-working team of students fill barbeque sauce into containers, staples flyers on to-go bags and helps prepare City Barbeque for the busy day ahead. With just one look you can see the sense of accomplishment and pride as these students are being encouraged by their job coaches.

This group of students represent the Aspire Academy, which is a transition program designed to serve West Clermont Local School Students, 18-22 years of age, who need additional training in daily living and work skills. The goal of the program is to prepare the students to work and live as independently as possible. The Aspire Academy includes an intervention specialist and job coaches who are excited and motivated to get students out in the community to increase independence in all areas of life. Some of these areas include personal finances, planning, organizing, time management, self-care, food prep, grocery shopping, household maintenance, social skills, community involvement, health and safety practices and career development.

City Barbeque is very proud to be a part of this program as well as similar programs in other communities. Giving these students the opportunity to develop skills while helping the restaurant is rewarding for everyone involved. The employees’ at City Barbeque love having a dependable team of helpers working alongside them, and employees find motivation in the students’ excitement and interest. Sharing these moments with the Aspire Academy always starts the mornings off better at City Barbeque.

“We strongly believe it is beneficial to give students experiences in the community such as accessing transportation, grocery shopping and developing work skills at places like City Barbeque,” said Julie Carter, Special Education Supervisor, West Clermont Schools. “We are currently working with 10 businesses in the community and we are grateful for each of these partnerships. These businesses help us develop over 15 students each year from Aspire Academy and provide beginning work experiences for over 12 of our high school students. Our young adults benefit greatly from their work based learning experiences in our community.”

Students enter the program through an application process. For more information on the great things the Aspire Academy is doing, please contact Julie Carter at carter_j@westcler.org or (513)943-5025.

And next time you visit City Barbeque know that the sauce sitting on your table just might have been filled with a little extra love!