Lilly Clark and Muriel Makus are all too familiar with the impact funding cuts have had on K-12 education.
Their library on the Rincon/University High School campus has not had a budget to buy books for the last nine years.
As a result, Makus, a Rincon senior, has been disappointed working her way through a series of books only to find volume three of a four-part set missing.
Knowing that an infusion of library funding is unlikely, Rincon/UHS library club members have taken matters into their own hands, opening a coffee bar on campus with the proceeds to be used to purchase new books.
The decision to sell coffee — regular and decaf — along with teas, juice, hot chocolate and water was a no-brainer, said school librarian Kim Grimes.
“They walk in with vats of coffee from Starbucks that they spend a lot of money on,” Grimes said of the high-schoolers.
Before the venture could get off the ground, students first had to pitch the idea to administration and ensure that the menu items, which cost no more than $2 each, comply with federal food requirements.
UHS Sophomore Cole Sohn expected to get pushback from the adults in charge but was pleasantly surprised by the amount of support the library club received, he said.
“Because it benefited the school there really was not much opposition,” Sohn said. “What was difficult was getting everything organized because there were so many ideas always being introduced that had to be formalized.”
The students in the after-school club also worked to make the library more inviting. They revitalized the space to create a meeting room, to display students’ art work and spruced up a stage where the schools’ poets, musicians and performers can hone their craft.
Given that there is no money for books, students accomplished the renovations by collecting materials they could find, fundraising and reaching out to their parents and community members to help make the coffee bar, dubbed Common Grounds, a reality.
Donations of coffee pots, milk frothers, ground coffee beans and other supplies poured in.
Operating before and after school on Mondays and Tuesdays and after school on Thursdays, students who usually have made early morning runs to Starbucks have expressed excitement over the more convenient on-campus offering and for the opportunity to support classmates, said Makus, who is responsible for the iced-coffee recipe.
Students will be responsible for taking orders, collecting payment, making drinks and keeping tabs on the inventory.
As impossible as the feat seemed at the start of the year, Clark would encourage other students who want change to go after it.
“It really helps to have one adult on your side because that can give a new level of confidence and connections,” she said.
Added Makus: “A lot of the time, most people don’t ask and that’s the big key — we started asking.”
