Trilobite Café builds community

Adamo Petosa creates space each week for students to relax, share food and coffee, and connect, right in the middle of the Geology Department’s rock collection.

“I guess it comes from my Italian origins,” said Dawson’s sole Geology faculty member. “I would keep my door open and welcome students who wanted to stay and work or chat. I started putting out cookies and apples for them.”

That simple gesture led to the creation of the Trilobite Café in fall 2024. With a small grant from the Dawson College Foundation SAGE Projects Fund, Adamo was able to expand the offerings this semester, including fresh fruit, and open the café twice a week.

“The idea is to offer a space where students can feel at home and supported by a small, human-scale community,” he said, noting that high school and elementary students benefit from having dedicated, comfortable spaces like homerooms.

Now in its second academic year, the Trilobite Café continues to provide a welcoming, nurturing environment for science students. Other students are also welcome, and faculty and staff regularly stop by.

“Some students come for just a semester, and some graduates still return to Dawson for the Trilobite Café,” Adamo said.

The lab that houses the café stands apart from a typical classroom. Alongside the Geology collection, it features an aquaponics setup and displays student artwork, creating a warm and distinctive atmosphere.

Adamo hopes to continue the Trilobite Café next academic year, as his schedule allows. He says its success comes down to one thing: “I love it. It’s the best part of my Dawson experience.”

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Adamo Petosa’s personal reflection on The Trilobite Café

I remember the poster – the Mosel Valley. Castles, vineyards and cliffs dropping down into a winding river. I looked at it, and then outside at the lawn and the buildings across the street. That was my Secondary II religion and PSE classroom. I could have done all my schooling in that seat – and when the windows were open (they opened back then), you could smell the seasons changing outside. This time of year, the excitement in the air rose like the temperature. Then, one June day, I left that room behind for the last time.

Then there was the clinic – in Montreal North where I grew up. It moved a couple of times but always seemed to relocate to a less appealing spot. With its white walls and terrible FM radio station playing, I always held off until I really felt extra sick before braving a three-hour wait there. Patient names were called out over a faulty intercom and the front desk incessantly reminded patients that they had no idea how long it would be and that if someone got called first, it was because they had an appointment. Stress, impatience, discomfort and airborne pathogens.

Two opposing images – equally sharp and enduring. The first is the basis for the environment I want to provide our students with. The second – well not that at all.

The Trilobite happened naturally. After our classes, I noticed students were not leaving. They hung around, chatted and did their work while I did mine. They also started arriving earlier – peeking their heads into the door before entering. Sometimes they interacted with one another. Sometimes they gazed out the windows (which no longer open) or looked at the rocks and fossils. And then, at one point, when the natural light began to dim, we’d all pack our things and go our own way. This was good but something was missing. We got a tiny aquarium and tried to grow some triops! When this failed, we got weather loaches and platies instead. I thought back to that poster of the Mosel Valley – I didn’t have one. Instead – we started putting student artwork on the walls, to give the room a homier feel! I wanted it to be the opposite of the clinic – welcoming, warm, calm and accepting.

Finally, the missing piece of the puzzle. I realized the students were often hungry. If I offered them a fruit or biscuit – they often jumped on the opportunity. So I started bringing food in! I also started letting students know when I would be there! And just like that, The Trilobite came to be! We got a coffee machine – it did a pretty good job for a while! The current set-up has parts from a few different machines but still manages to work :)!

As the number of students attending grew (and with that, the size of the grocery bills), we were lucky enough to obtain funding from the Dawson College Foundation! Their generosity enabled us to provide more food – especially fresh fruit, which is very popular. I owe a lot to the Dawson College Foundation for supporting our project! We get our fruit and snacks from PA Du Fort to ensure each dollar goes a long way. Coffee comes from IK4WA, a non-profit selling Burundian coffee. Dawson student Chris Maniratanga provides the coffee and, through his coffee sales, helps to build infrastructure in Burundi.

So why The Trilobite? The trilobite was a marine organism that disappeared approximately 250 million years ago. Trilobites (there were over 20,000 known species of these critters) roamed the seas for 300 million years and survived two global mass extinction events! However, they sadly did not survive the third mass extinction, known as the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, or simply The Great Dying.

The Trilobite name was chosen as trilobite sounds like a bite-sized cookie or cracker of some kind (I’ll admit it). Nonetheless, it also represents our students and staff – resilient, adaptable, diverse and ready to take on life’s challenges! Drop by – you are very welcome!

Thank you again to the Dawson Foundation and to Gillian, Mitchell, Max, Jon, Tim, Selma, Brian, Tonia, Stephanie and all the students who enable me to carry out this project!

If you would like to join The Trilobite mailing list, just send me an email at: apetosa@dawsoncollege.qc.ca

I hope to see you there!