By TAMMY WHALEY, “mailto:twhaley@breezenewspapers.com”>twhaley@breezenewspapers.com

What started out as a donation of bagels for a teachers’ event quickly turned into a new menu design for Joe Sasso, owner of Cape West Bagels Inc., located at 814 Pine Island Road.

“I had a teacher stop in and ask me what we did with the leftover bagels because they were having a teachers’ auction event,” said Sasso. “I ended up donating them to her and then she then asked who designed my menu.“

Sasso, who opened his business in November, said he and his wife designed the menu, which was done in a very basic black and white design.

“She offered to take the menu back to her graphic design class at North Fort Myers Academy For the Arts and have them take a crack at redesigning it,” he said.

“I brought the idea back to my class and the kids were so excited to be doing something like this and not just a traditional text book assignment,” said Susan Sommer, computer teacher for North Fort Myers Academy For the Arts. “I also think this was a wonderful idea as it did truly give them a chance to do what would be expected of them in real life as a graphic artist.“

After giving her students the old menu, it took a few weeks of brainstorming and work, but finally Sommer was able to whittle the entries down to a few, which would be taken to Sasso for approval.

“The work these kids put into this was stunning,” he said. “It was really hard for me to choose just one.“

After much consideration, Sasso was able to pick out the winning design, which included the same standard items which are available at the restaurant and some exciting new graphics to go along inside of the standard tri-fold menu.

The winning design belongs to 14-year-old eighth-grader Kenny Civil.

“I was so excited,” said Civil. “I have always been interested in the graphic arts field and now I have something to show people that I did in real life and to use for my portfolio.“

Civil said he used the programs Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher to recreate the menu.

“I added wash out graphics behind the text to show what kinds of food he has there,” said Civil. “I used pictures of a salad, meat, bagels, bacon, eggs and sandwiches.“

Civil’s mom, Roseann, said she is thrilled that her son was part of the creative project, and she is excited her son was involved in such a real-life learning project.

“Mrs. Sommer is an awesome teacher,” she said. “It was a great culmination to the end of her class.“

Sommer said the project went so well for everyone involved that she would like to keep incorporating these types of assignments in future classes.

“I would like to find other businesses that would consider letting our class do some scale designing for them,” she said, “like business cards, flyers, menus or letterhead.”