Tech Café is open for business

WASILLA — Being short on sleep is a problem that plagues students everywhere, and while Mat Su Career and Technical High School hasn’t added a class period specifically for naps, students short on sleep have a new way to get a boost of energy.

At the beginning of the second quarter at CTHS, the Tech Café opened for business. The café sells coffee, tea, smoothies and other drinks, and has already proven to be a hit with students and staff.

When you reach the front of the order line at the Tech Café a smiling student cashier greets you. The cashier has been trained extensively on how to use the cash register and all students undergo customer service training their freshman year. This training is part of what makes the café different from coffee stands at other schools.

After the cashier takes your order you wait for it to be made. In the initial weeks, the wait was a bit longer than that of your average coffee shop, but the student baristas are getting better, so delicious drinks are being made faster.

While you wait you can see the drinks being made. Students pull shots of espresso and steam milk on an espresso machine donated by Providence hospital. Other students blend ice for smoothies and some make tea.

When you get your drink you can go back to the lunchroom or do what other students do and sit with friends in the classroom next to the café and enjoy your drinks.

Lacey Rucker, a teacher who was a key player in the opening of the coffee shop, said this is what’s supposed to happen.

“I like that students are hanging out and talking with their friends and treating it like it’s a actual café,” she said.

Rucker, a teacher in the business pathway at CTHS, is the real reason students like us have a school café at all. But this café did not spring up overnight. Rucker said it is the product of nearly two years and countless hours of hard work.

The idea to start a café for students and teachers to enjoy was initially funded by a grant from Carl Perkins, a technical education advocate. The grant was for starting a student-based business. The grant was two weeks from expiring when Rucker, who was in her first year of teaching, heard about it. The new teacher stepped up to the plate and agreed to take the grant.

Rucker said it was difficult to spend the initial money because building and electrical work needed to be done to make the space café ready. Though it was difficult to get bids in and buy the right equipment for the coffee shop, the money was spent. Rucker hoped that by the next year the store would be open for business.

The espresso bar didn’t happen without experiencing its share of problems. Because of electrical work that took longer then expected, the opening of Career and Technical High School’s first coffee shop had to be postponed until the second quarter of this year.

Before the store even took its first customer’s order, there was hours and hours of work on behalf of teachers and students that went into making this business a unique success.

Part of what makes this café different from other student-run businesses like the Blue Moose at Palmer High School is that that our Career and Technical Student Organizations supply the workers.

At other schools like Palmer, students in Business Professionals of America run the coffee stand. At CTHS, there are three CTSOs. These allow students to compete at the regional, state and national level in competitions that interest them. Because it can be expensive, the goal of Tech Café is to help students who want to compete at the state and national levels.

Rucker said that not only do the three student organizations supply volunteers for the stand, they also share in its profits. Every day a student works in the coffee shop, $5 is deposited into his or her personal account. This money can be used if the student competes in events for a CTSO.

Though the café is in debt now, Rucker believes the coffee shop will be in the black by December.

“Most business aren’t profitable for the first three years,” she said. “We’re hoping that we’ll do better than that. For now, we’re focusing on worker compensation first, paying back BPA, which leant money for the café, and raw materials. Hopefully later on we can set aside money to reinvest in the stand.”

Another part of the café that makes it unique is how it is helping business classes get real-world experience.

“I tried to incorporate the café into lessons,” Rucker said. “Students in my technical applications classes learn about management and my desktop publishing class made the Tech Café design logo and the fliers to advertise for the opening. Students in my entrepreneurship class helped with the café, and my accounting class gets real-world experience managing the accounts.”

The Tech Café will probably still be a part of certain classes at CTHS in the coming years. Future plans for the café include purchasing additional blenders for cold drinks, more construction on the stand and offering more food items during morning and lunch.

Despite all the work that still needs to be done and all the upkeep the café requires, Rucker is thrilled with how the café is running so far. When asked how she felt about the first coffee shop at Career and Technical High School, Rucker said, “Super draining, but awesome.”

Sophie Harris is a junior at Mat Su Career and Technical High School.