When Alexandra Awad was in the first grade at Glen Hills Elementary School, her teacher, Jodi Joseph, asked the students what kind of field trips they would like to take during the year.

Awad suggested that the class take a trip just down the hill from the school to her family’s bagel and coffee shop, Cafe International on Oaklawn Avenue.

Her dad, Victor, and her mom, Marisol, were more than willing to host the students, and with that, a yearly tradition was born.

Alexandra, now 20 and a student at the University of New Hampshire, was on hand as this year’s crop of students walked down the hill and into the shop for their field trip, and she greeted her former first-grade teacher warmly.

The students were split into two groups and taken into the back of the restaurant, where Victor showed them the art of bagel making – from the equipment that is used to the steps that are involved, including measuring out 50 pounds of flour into the mixer.

Victor noted that although children – like bagels – have not changed much over the past two decades, their thinking and lines of questioning have.

“I’ve seen a change in the questions that the students ask over the years,” he said. “Early on, their questions were about how the bagels were made. Then they asked what would happen if the power went out. Last year, someone asked me if a robot could do my job.”

Throughout the morning tour, the students were able to tour the kitchen and walk-in freezer and learn about the ingredients needed for a bagel recipe.