With the relocation and opening of the new Sparbucks, excitement, but also some tension has risen in the air. Spartan Assembly has been working hard to train the next generation of baristas to serve the student body. Even though joy and caffeine are brought to us by our new coffee shop, some people aren’t so happy about it.
Sparbucks has been a part of this school for countless years. While some have never enjoyed coffee, there are others who live off of it. The idea of coming to school and paying half the price for your favorite morning beverage has been a hit.
This year, Spartan Assembly saw a need for a change in their student run coffee bar, and it only seemed fitting since they would be relocating to the new addition being built. They renovated the menus with the intention of appealing to more students.
With the profits donated back to the community or the school, Sparbucks is not only great for the students, but great for the surrounding area. “Our proceeds will go towards future events and get us a head start at next year’s Student Hunger Drive,” senior Spartan Assembly member Rebecca Abdullah says.
Even with the good nature of the coffee shop, citizens of the surrounding area have taken to Twitter to voice their opinions. Luckily, the students of this school have helped shut down the haters. “People are quick to judge, especially when behind a screen,” Abdullah says. “But this controversy has shown that assumptions were formed from misinterpretations and lack of knowledge of the full truth.” Many community members see it as Pleasant Valley putting a coffee shop in the high school because that’s all they’ve seen from social media. Abdullah states, “Our coffee bar has been a student run initiative to raise money for school events, fundraisers and charities for years now.”
“Personally, I think the name Sparbucks is just a catchy play on words that raises student interests,” Abdullah says. And that is all it was meant to be, just some clever word play in no way associated with the multi-million dollar company, Starbucks. “However, changing the name to something that involves school spirit will be more suitable for the space in the long run once the construction is complete and the space will be used for a variety of purposes,” states Abdullah.
With the situation being at least two weeks old by now, social media and community members have calmed down. Students and staff still line up every morning in the new addition to purchase their daily dose of caffeine. Even with a new name on the horizon, Spartan Assembly members come to work everyday to give back to the community and this school.
Hannah Thomas • Jan 31, 2018 at 10:30 am
The controversy with the new Sparbucks seems almost silly to me. Pleasant Valley High School has had a Sparbucks for multiple years now! It provides the students to be apart of the school in a way that not very many other schools offer. Now all of a sudden when the school renovates and makes it bigger and more appealing the parents and community members haven’t been accepting of it.