Oftentimes, a hands-on experience provides the best experience.

That’s why Alcona High School’s new Alcona Tea and Bean coffee shop excites us so.

The shop, run by the school’s Entrepreneurship Marketing class, opened May 18 in a converted former concession stand and serves high school students and teachers.

Teacher Aimee Renchenski said the students had to conduct market research, decide which beverages to serve, create the recipes, and determine how much they would cost.

“This right here is another good example of us learning real world problems and solving them,” senior Caleb Kamiscke told reporter Crystal Nelson for a recent News story.

Life throws us plenty of curve balls we can’t learn to overcome through the lessons in a textbook. It takes the experience of putting your hands in the dirt, so to speak, to truly understand how to make things happen the way they should.

Programs like the Alcona High coffee shop and the Campus Closet school store at Alpena High School and other similar operations provide that experience.

Thanks, Alcona Community Schools, for giving our kids a leg up.