In one corner of Galesburg High School, just beyond the flow of crowded hallways and the thrum of class changes, you’ll find Common Grounds—a student-run coffee shop serving up drinks, snacks, and a quiet revolution in how we prepare students with special needs for the working world.

And behind it all is Randi Grodjesk, a 25-year veteran special education teacher who didn’t plan to land in high school—and now can’t imagine being anywhere else.

Her journey began, of all things, with a bad interview. As a young student teacher with dreams of staying in the elementary classroom she’d trained in, Randi bombed what she thought would be her big break. So she took another interview—just for the practice.

“I didn’t even want the high school job,” she admits, smiling. “But they saw something in me. They offered me the full-time position, and I figured… why not? I needed the experience.”

That “why not” became a career of impact.

Over the years, Randi has taught countless students with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, emotional-behavior disorders, and other Individualized Education Plans (IEP). But in recent years, she’s carved out a specific niche: transition programming.

She leads two courses—Job Search and the STEP Program (Secondary Transition Employment Program)—that help students not just imagine adulthood, but step confidently toward it.

“In Job Search, we work on how to get a job and how to keep it,” she says. “But it’s really so much more than that. It’s confidence-building. It’s soft skills. It’s exposure to careers they didn’t even know existed.”

Randi teaches students how to introduce themselves. How to shake hands. How to manage eye contact, use respectful tone, and dress appropriately for an interview. And she does it all through repetition, real-life modeling, and even a little humor.

“Confidence is everything,” she says. “A lot of my students don’t know how much they’re capable of—until we show them.”

The STEP Program is the second stage of that journey. Run in partnership with the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services, it pairs students with job coaches and places them in real-world work settings—some paid, some volunteer. Employers provide feedback. Coaches reinforce the skills. Randi helps connect the dots.

And then there’s Common Grounds, the coffee shop born from a Keurig-on-a-cart experiment in 2016 that’s now a fully functioning storefront built into the school during its renovation.

“We wanted a worksite where students could be seen succeeding—where the whole school could witness their growth,” she says. “Now we’re open before school and during lunch, and the students do it all—take orders, make drinks, handle money, stock inventory.”

For many of her students, it’s their first taste of pride in a professional setting. For Randi, it’s proof of what can happen when students are given tools, trust, and a meaningful role.

She’s candid about the realities they’ll face. Some of her students read at a second-grade level. Others have trouble with focus, regulation, or social cues. “But we don’t spend all day talking about deficits,” she says. “We talk about how to navigate those challenges.”

That includes everything from workplace etiquette to how visible tattoos and piercings might affect first impressions. It’s not about policing identity, she says—it’s about helping students make informed choices in a world that doesn’t always bend to meet them.

“If you know the expectations,” she tells her class, “you can decide how to meet them—or when to challenge them. But first, you have to know.”

After 25 years, Randi still believes fiercely in public education and the potential of every student—especially those who haven’t always been told they belong.

“I always tell them, once you get out there, people aren’t going to see your IEP. They’re going to see how you show up. And I want you to show up with the tools to succeed.”

And thanks to her work, more and more students are doing exactly that—one confident handshake, one brewed cup, one opportunity at a time.