When the 2025 school year began at Lakewood High School, employees and students brought their drink of the day to school. Some students spend too much money each week on “fun” energy drinks, which contain high levels of caffeine. These students are becoming dependent on their daily drinks.
Beverages are becoming a source of comfort and identity as students are bringing their coffee or energy drinks to school each day. At Lakewood High School, beverages like iced coffee, iced tea, refreshers, and even the water bottles students carry have become the social norm.
With health concerns in mind, many believe they would be healthier bringing their own non-sugary, low-caffeine drinks to school instead of choosing what the school offers.
These drinks have become the pick-me-ups in the lives of students by making them feel productive. Most students and teachers enjoy stopping at a local coffeehouse while going to school or even making their beverages at home.
“My favorite is a good coffee—my homemade coffee…because I can pick what I want and how I like it,” said Lakewood High School senior Isabella Lester. This gives her a greater variety in choice compared to the restricted choices that the high school offers students. “I used to feel judged for taking a homemade coffee in because it looked a bit silly, but not any longer.”
The school culture has now shifted, and there is a new drink-oriented society where individuals feel comfortable expressing themselves the way they desire. Another reason why students are opting for these daily beverages is that it has become a habit.
These trends are creating a compulsion among the students to purchase their beverages. Aliyah Plicka, a junior at Lakewood High School, said that she spends “maybe 10 or 11 dollars” a week on drinks. That is a lot of money teenagers are spending. For Plicka’s needs, it would be approximately $40 a month and $360 over the course of the school year. For the majority of the students, having their morning beverage resting on their desk provides a sense of reassurance in their daily routine.
Some students believe such drinks affect their mood and performance in school, helping them focus more, be productive and have more energy throughout the day.
Even in Lakewood High School, some teachers have joined this morning ritual.
Lakewood High School history teacher Joe Lobozzo worries that kids are consuming too much caffeine, which could be harmful. He said, “I am worried that children are consuming drinks that have three times the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee,” Lobozzo said.
Teachers are frustrated by kids returning late to school as they leave school to fetch their daily drink—disrupting both their own learning and the classroom environment. “Sometimes kids are bringing drinks because they’re leaving school to purchase them, and kids are returning late to class, and that also kind of bothers me,” said Lobozzo.
Whether it’s just coffee, energy drinks, flavored water, or even smoothies, the students say that their drink of choice allows them to make it through the day. The drink of choice has to be respectful to school policy and the environment. It’s not so much about the drink; it’s about the comfort, personality and focus that come with it.
