New morning kickstarter

A wave of exhaustion falls over Sam’s head as she gets ready to go to class. Her eyes feel heavier with every blink. She usually grabs a coffee on the way to school, but after waking up late, she had to skip her daily routine and head straight to school.

R Bucks is a student-run café that sells various breakfast goods, including coffee and sometimes pastries.

R Bucks is mainly run by junior Eleanor Rayburn

“I am in charge and run the entire coffee shop every morning,” she said. “With the exception of a few volunteers.”

People volunteer at R Bucks for different reasons.

“I help run the cafe in the mornings,” junior Alexis Wadsworth said. “I wanted to be a part of it because I like working with people and being able to make a person smile. When Eleanor said she was starting the cafe I instantly asked her if I could help.”

Even though the cafe is fairly new to the school, it’s been a long process bringing it to life.

“R Bucks has been open to the public for about a month,” Rayburn said. “Although I have been working on the shop for over a year.”

It all started as a class project.

“Eleanor was in her innovations class and their project was to create something,” Wadsworth said. “Eleanor pitched her idea to the school and everybody loved it.”

Eleanor was inspired to make a school café for various reasons.

“I knew I wanted to do something big,” she said. “So I thought opening and running a business would suffice. I love coffee, but the real reason was to just help people get their morning fix and have something fun to do.”

R bucks is open in the mornings before class starts.

“We’re open from 7:55 to 8:12[A.M],” Wadsworth said. “But that fluctuates.”

However, Rayburn hopes to change this in the future.

“It’s a short time period for now,” she said. “But I would eventually like to be open for a longer period.”

The menu was designed in hopes of having something for everyone to enjoy.

“I sell a number of hot lattes and cold frappes to three kinds of tea,” Rayburn said. “I also have water bottles and hot chocolate in case you don’t like coffee or tea. On occasion, I also sell baked goods, (muffins/ cookies). I would say my most popular drink is a French Vanilla Latte.”

Sometimes they’ll order food from fellow students to showcase.

“We have a menu in the cafe,” Wadsworth said. “So if people ever want to stop by they can see all the coffees we sell from vanilla lattes, pumpkin spice lattes, cold brews, to blueberry muffins and cookies. Every once in a while we’ll buy homemade cookies and muffins from @Josie_meridith on Instagram.”

Some students have become regular customers.

“It’s pretty alright,” sophomore Bianca Burress said.”[I go there] at least 3 times a week. Around 8:05[A.M].”

Others aren’t aware of what R Bucks is.

“I didn’t know we had that at RHS,” sophomore Asha Woodlief said. “But it sounds like a nice thing to have as an option. Especially since they have a wider menu to choose from than the school’s breakfast and are able to sell goods like coffee, which a lot of students drink to start the day off.”

Rayburn sees this issue among students and wants to fix it.

“I wish we were open a little longer and more people knew where we are located, or when we are open because a lot of people don’t.”

Students go to R bucks for different reasons.

“My friend Lexi works in it,” Burress said.

Others think it’s an easy alternative option to choose from.

“I personally don’t eat breakfast that much,” Woodlief said. “But a lot of my friends do. R bucks seems like a nice convenient place to get a snack or coffee fix from. I know some people get breakfast from restaurants before they go to school and I think that R bucks would be perfect for those people.”

Although R Bucks is brand new, the feedback has been mainly positive.

“I think that the RHS staff and students like the coffee shop very much,” Rayburn said.

R bucks is open to the entire school, not only the students.

“The school loves it,” Wadsworth said. “We have teachers, secretaries, and students come in during the mornings. We have about 5–7 customers every day.”

No business is perfect and Rayburn hopes for future improvements.

“I have a lot of new ideas for the shop,” she said. “It’s just everything I want to do takes time and money. I would like to have a larger menu with vast flavors. I would also love to decorate the shop more and eventually have seating.”

Others are thinking further into the future, even after they’ve left high school.

“All the money we’ve made from R bucks has just gone back into it,” Wadsworth said. “We hope to keep it open in future years even if we’re graduated. We hope that the money made from the café can just keep being put into it for it to keep it running. We’ve made more money than we thought we ever would just in the days we’ve been back to school. We just really hope that in future years R bucks will stay open and other students can help keep it running in the mornings. When we’re gone.”