CHCA Eagle's Eye 2014

Dynamically engaged
Baristas Wanted!
by Jason Oden,
Christian Studies Teacher
(Barista Extraordinaire),
Martha S. Lindner
High School
The golden age of CHCA high school has begun! The sights, sounds, smells and smiles
of a full-service coffee shop saturated the hallways of CHCA this past year, and many
a student and faculty alike found it much easier to stay awake through the most
challenging of lectures and rigorous exams.
4
The idea for the coffee cart was first birthed years ago
by Dr. Nicholas, when he started as principal for CHCA.
He wanted to put coffee in the library to help students
form a habit—not just a coffee habit, but a library one as
well. Unfortunately it wasn’t feasible at the time, and idea
was shelved. Jump to years later, in the spring of 2013, like
many of his colleagues (and quite frankly, students too),
Todd Bacon’s love of coffee and weariness of having to
make trips to Starbucks was growing greater and greater.
But Bacon couldn’t make it happen alone. So, he consulted
the one person who knows more about coffee than
anyone in the high school: Jason Oden. Oden, despite
never being a barista, was connected to the local coffee
scene in Cincinnati and was more than eager to help
make this caffeinated dream a reality.
So prior to the summer of 2013, they assembled a
great student team, purchased the equipment and
made a plan to commit all profits to CHCA Intersession
scholarships (What is “Intercession”? See our Eagle’s
Eye Cover Story). It wasn’t long, however, until the task
of starting the coffee cart was left to Oden to complete.
Shortly after summer break began, Bacon took a new
position in the high school directing the International
Program, and had to concentrate all of his efforts on
launching this exciting new addition to the high school.
But Oden didn’t flinch, and worked throughout the
summer to launch CHCA’s first-ever coffee cart.
By the beginning of the school year, a team of welltrained
upperclassmen and parent volunteers, three
newly constructed coffee cart components and a slew
of new equipment were ready to bring one of the only
high school coffee bars in Cincinnati to the halls of
CHCA’s MSL high school. The first day of operation of
The Leaning Eagle was the day of the 2013 Homecoming
Extravaganza. In that single day, Michael Schwabe, Will
Drosos, Yimeng Fan, Clarissa Jacobs, Tian Fu, Xingmeng
Ding, Alex Stevens, Emma Vincent and Caroline Lawley
worked virtually nonstop to make enough drinks to go
through ten pounds of coffee, over fifteen milk cartons
and multiple bottles of flavor syrup and chocolate sauce.
Needless to say, it was a success beyond expectations in
the eyes of both customers as well as the student staff.
And the same thing can be said about the operation and
outcome of the coffee cart in its first full school year. By