ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Students from the Phoenix Academy at the Greater Southern Tier BOCES Bush Campus have been getting a taste of real life. The school recently partnered with the Elmira Tea and Coffee House (ETCH) to help students expand their life skills and experience.

In January, the students will head to ETCH to work behind the counter, gaining experience prepping drinks, taking orders, and more.

"So come January, when we're working there, the students that are going to be going there, they're going to be ones that are going to be transitioning out of our program," said Jonathan VanNess, the job coach at Phoenix Academy at GST BOCES. "So, whether they're in the last year or two, and one of their goals, their career goals, is to work in a coffee shop or something of that nature, we're able to take them there and they'll be trained as a barista."

According to GST BOCES, the opportunity has already impacted around 32 students. To ease them into the transition from working on campus to the coffee shop, students have already begun prepping sandwiches and salads that are sold in the coffee shop.

Some students say they are already learning a lot.

"Well, from my experience, what I tend to learn here is collective teamwork together," said Aiden 'Nugget', a student at Phoenix Academy at GST BOCES. "Also, I learn the skills of creating different masterpieces of food, which is quite delicious in my opinion."

"We all learn from each other and help each other out," said Charlee, another student at Phoenix Academy at GST BOCES.

Another student, Faith, said, "It helps us learn life skills and meet new people in the community and how to cook and learn how to package things and deliver them."

ETCH is owned by Capabilities, a local nonprofit whose mission is to help those with disabilities reach their career and education goals. According to CEO Katrina Manning, the partnership fits their mission to a T.

"For students who might not be familiar with what Capabilities does, it kind of exposes them to us as a future support system for them when they move on out of high school and start looking for jobs," said Manning.

Manning continued by saying it's also a good opportunity for students to learn and make mistakes since they don't have the pressure of having a real job.

The in-person collaboration will officially begin next month.

ETCH is located in Elmira at 100 W Water St Suite 3.