Eagles Eye 2019 including the 2018/2019 Annual Report

When the group returned to school, pictures from the
day were posted on social media—images of students
leaning in to take in the aroma of bean-to-bar cacao from
Maverick Chocolate, pictures of exquisite latte art from
third-wave coffee shops, and stills from the cupping. After
the typical likes and shares had died down, an interesting
series of comments appeared under the post.
“Jealous,” one comment read, posted by Jeremy Devin,
class of 2016. This was followed by “Same” from Alana
Lindenfeld, class of 2017. Candace Pfister, class of 2018,
replied and wrote, “I miss this and you, Megan Peck,” to
which Megan Peck, class of 2019 replied, “Candace, I miss
this and you too!”
Despite the years separating them, all four of these former
students are part of a growing community of both alumni
and current students at the school—a community growing
out of the burgeoning Business Entrepreneurship Program.
The flagship business of this program is the Leaning Eagle
Coffee Bar, established as a permanent, student-run
business in 2015, and from Jeremy Devin to Megan Peck,
each of these students became full-fledged baristas
through their work in taking coffee to the next level.
And now that's part of their story.
By her junior year, Candace was working at the coffee bar,
and her senior year she was the overall manager of the bar.
Through her leadership, the coffee bar grew exponentially
and reached unforeseen heights in excellence. This
excellence is best epitomized by Valentine’s Day.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Candace designed handmade
valentines complete with Bible verses and attached them
to the cups so that all customers on February 14th left The
Leaning Eagle feeling loved.
Candace is now a sophomore at the College of Charleston
majoring in economics. Last year she participated in the
ImpactX startup accelerator as part of their School of
Business where she and her team fulfilled the stated goal
of “creating a business that makes a profit while making
a difference” by creating an app called “food fighter”
which helps consumers lower their personal food waste
by tracking grocery spending. She explained that the
business entrepreneurship program at CHCA helped
her understand an elevator pitch—something she “…is
continuing to master.”
In the end, her team won the $6,000 grand prize.
And thus her story grows.
In much the same way, so continues the story of the
Business Entrepreneurship Program. Last year, CHCA’s
business class hosted the Food Symposium, a large-scale
event which brought over five hundred attendees, most
with no CHCA affiliation, to the school for a two-day
conference complete with national speakers, local authors,
business owners, restaurateurs, farmers, and professional
chefs. The event was made possible by the dedicated work
of students who served coffee drinks, managed the food
truck rally, acted as ushers, assisted with the exhibition hall
set up, and even published articles about the proceedings.
At CHCA, we love stories. We root for our athletic teams
who defy all odds to raise the bar in our standard of
excellence. We cheer for our students who earn academic
accolades and go on to achieve prestigious awards in
college. We stand in awe of our fine arts performers who
display talents far beyond their age. We champion the
teachers who go above and beyond the classroom every
day, we celebrate the parents who sacrifice to give their
children the best education, and we stand behind the
administrators whose bold visions bring exciting changes to
our campus.
Although someone’s story begins before they first step
foot on CHCA’s campus, it is the nature of CHCA to
dramatically shape that story. For Jeremy Devin, the
Business Entrepreneurship Program played a vital role in his
story: “It definitely helped me with communication skills
and developing leadership. From group projects in college
to leadership positions in extracurricular activities, I was
more prepared.”
In addition to discussions around food, the event focused
on the need for sustainability. In order to fully embrace
this idea, the Business Entrepreneurship Program began
the task of minimizing the carbon footprint of The
Leaning Eagle Coffee Bar. With this task came a series of
challenges—even if compostable cups were used, would
they just end up at the landfill with everything else? If
local products were found, how would we get them to the
school? In traditional entrepreneurship fashion, challenges
led to solutions. In addition to compostable cups, GoZero
Services was hired to take all the compost to a facility
that would turn the cups and coffee grounds into nutrient
dense soil. Local grass-fed milk from Hartzler Dairy is now
delivered once a week in reusable glass bottles that the
students carefully rinse after use.
The excitement over these changes has brought about
a new standard of excellence at the coffee bar. Ask any
student barista about the milk and prepare to hear an
earful about low-temperature pasteurization and the
benefits of non-homogenization.
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