It’s not the most common field trip many readers may remember from high school – museums, plays, the legislature, sure, but chips and queso at a downtown restaurant?
But that’s exactly what a group of seniors from Triumph did on Friday, October 18 to support an English 12 project.
“My mom was like, ‘Wait, Sanford’s? Like to eat for a field trip?’” senior Aubrey Roberts recalls. And although the students were indeed treated to complementary tortilla chips and drinks, there was an educational intent underpinning it all.
“James is a truly great friend, a genuine guy, with a lot to share”, reported teacher Ellie Zuber, who met with James Yates, Sanford’s owner and general manager, before the students arrived to help settle his nerves.
Asking the local business owner to take time out of his operating hours to meet with students was an unusual request, but one that the English 12 team felt might be of real benefit to the students. Yates has been a Cheyenne fixture for decades, transplanting from Gillette as part of his expanding restaurant franchises. But meeting with high school students to share his life experiences and lessons on community involvement was definitely outside his comfort zone.
“You guys have got me tearing up already,” Yates said, after sharing details about his emotional journey, from tough situations growing up into the challenges of maintaining a standard in a competitive industry. “I probably made it harder on myself, but I was always the guy who when told to go right, well I always go left – it was shorter, and I didn’t want to follow anybody.”
Teacher Sandra Bott, who set up the field trip, was looking for such a response when brainstorming for the project. “What we need is authentic community members who are doing something for their community”, Bott said. She also grew up in the Gillette area and was familiar with Yates’s previous restaurants. “They were always centers for the community, places everybody knew, and you could get a sense of what the people in the community were like.”
“For me”, Yates told the students, “I wanted to find my niche, y’know, in my life that I knew how to do, and I wanted to do, and people wanted what I [offered].”
This idea melds with the English 12 project, which teacher Justin Earnshaw has phrased as “bloom where you’re planted”.
“I was really excited to meet with James,” Earnshaw said, “because our project needs to see and meet people who’ve made the most of what their community offered. How many of our students, despite what they say, actually move away and make a new life for themselves? While we’re here, let’s make the most of it!”
In addition to his life story and suggestions on how to manage businesses in challenging times, Yates shared his strategies for connecting to community opportunities. “I always listen to what people are saying, seeing what sells, what people want…As I see it, the first thing I do, maybe it’s me, is say try harder, and when I walk in to a new thing, say I’m going to be the best I can be.”
As the students continue to work on their “Year 13” plans and create proposals for the class community projects, it’s advice they will no doubt recall receiving memorably, over queso and drinks in a lively downtown Cheyenne hub.
