Senior Studies has always worked to bridge the gap between the school and the Evanston community, but this year’s partnership with Curt’s Cafe has taken it to a whole new level.

“Curt’s Cafe has been a big fan of the senior studies program and the senior studies program has been a big fan of ours,” said Lori Dube, Director of Community Relations. However this year Curt’s Cafe has expanded to a second location at 1813 Dempster, adjacent to Burger King.

The south location will double as a cafe and evening restaurant called Hevanston Eatery. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday until 8 pm.

The involvement of the students has mostly been through marketing and advertising, especially after the opening of the second location. “This year we’ve had two students Sam Knepper and Matt Chapelle help spread the word about Curt’s South,” said Dube.

“At Curt’s Cafe my job has been to lure in as many customers as possible and spread the word about Curt’s story through my marketing,” said Sam Knepper, senior.

With the help of Senior Studies Curt’s Cafe has been able to make serious progress on the goals that they had when they first opened; which include ex-inmate and female rights advocation.

“We’re working with organizations like Family Focus, Childcare network, and the high school actually in order to find students for the program,” explained Dube.

Although Curt’s is only in two locations in Evanston right now the cafe is hoping to branch out from just a high school hang out place to a staple in multiple communities across the Chicagoland area.

“One day our executive director would like to have Curt’s Cafe’s in all the neighborhoods and cities that need them but for now we just need to get Curt’s South up and running and able to serve out students.”