T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown High School Level III Special Education Teacher Mady Sodders (left) and a group of her students launched “Infusion Inclusion,” a dirty soda delivery service for MHS staff, on March 1. Pictured, standing from left, are Sodders, Maricarmen Valdez, Juan Diego Cervantes, Dasan McDowell, Eh Khu Say, Alondra Gomez Castillo, Conner Cochran, Payton Pietig, and Denzel Aviles Rosario. Kneeling, from left, are Anjelo Medina Romero and Joaquin Sanchez Cerrillo

Dirty sodas are all the rage these days as the cream and syrup “spiked” drinks have become popular at restaurants, cafes, and, locally, even at the new downtown bookstore. Marshalltown High School (MHS) Special Education teacher Mady Sodders is now bringing the refreshing flavors to staff with a little help from her own students through a new initiative known as “Infusion Inclusion, which launched on March 1.

“It kind of just started as, there’s not a lot of places that employ or give work experience to kids with significant disabilities. (Mid-Iowa Workshops) does awesome, but that’s one place. So this kind of just acted as a little work experience, cross curricular activity that allows them to follow recipes,” Sodders said.

The idea for the project arose out of conversations with staff at the Iowa Department of Education (IDOE) about transition activities for special education students, and as they threw around ideas, Sodders suggested something as simple as a coffee or dirty soda bar.

“And they were like ‘Why can’t you do that?’ And I was like ‘I guess I can,’ and that’s truly how it came to be. It was truly just a ‘Yeah, why can’t we?’ (thing),” she said.

Right now, staff members in need of a sweet, creamy pick me up — offerings include “The Class Classic” with Coke, vanilla, lime and cream; “The Goal Getter” with Dr. Pepper, coconut, lime and cream; “The Berry Best” with Sprite, strawberry, vanilla and cream; and “The Sunshine Sip” with Sunkist, vanilla and cream — order via a Google form, and the students get to work on them once they’ve pulled a soda from the vault in the special ed classroom.

“The goal is that we can even have little pop-up shops as well down the road. I would really like to see it open to students as well, allow them to come in and order. I feel like that’s kind of the market right now with all of the different coffee shops and dirty soda bars,” Sodders said. “But having that available at school for them to purchase, and then all of the money that we raise just goes to restock all of our supplies.”

So far, the kids themselves are greatly enjoying the experience of making the drinks — and taste testing them, of course — but they especially love the chance to get out of the classroom and deliver them. Each drink contains a special note that says “Made with love by” the name of the student.

And Sodders is equally passionate about helping them realize their dreams along with her own — someday, she’d love to start a business only employing children and adults with disabilities. She plans to start an Infusion Inclusion Facebook page soon, and anyone interested in learning more can email her at msodders@marshalltown.k12.ia.us.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.