It’s 8 AM and the first class has yet to start, but students have already stopped for caffeine. Inside, students clutch iced coffees from Starbucks and energy drinks like lifelines, trading yawns for quick sips of alertness. For many students, caffeine has become a daily ritual, one that reflects not just taste, but growing pressures of teenage life. It is not just about staying awake. Students juggle class schedules, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, and social lives, often stretching their days beyond what sleep alone can support.
“I got three hours of sleep and spent the whole night working on my ALT English paper. I drank two cups of coffee in the morning. I was a little jittery and I was really stressed out at school,” Harper Carnahan ‘26 said. Carnahan had planned to donate blood as part of her ongoing efforts to give back to the community. However, when she attempted to donate blood the blood drive volunteer told her she could not. “My heart rate was like 120. But it’s usually 65,” Carnahan said.
Kolce Mileski ‘27 partakes in mountain biking outside of school and that takes up about 12 to 15 hours of his week all year round. He also participates in cyclocross and road biking inside of school.
“My personal favorite is Monster, but I also drink Ghosts, sometimes Alani, and then I drink Reign,” Mileski said. “I like the rush and feeling of it. I do really like the actual taste of most energy drinks. I have like one or two Monsters every single day.”
Mileski’s relationship with caffeine dates back to his sophomore year.
“Honestly, I feel like, obviously, it makes me a little, like, hyper and a little shaky. But I also feel like it helps me stay focused. It might cause a little more stress, but I still, I think it’s a good positive impact,” Mileski said. “I feel like energy drinks taste better at school, mainly because school is kind of draining.”
Students report increasing their caffeine intake as they progress through high school to keep up with growing academic demands. Longer study hours and extracurricular commitments have made staying alert a priority for many.
“In the past I spent six or seven hours doing club volleyball each week. I spend maybe five hours on a bad day doing homework. I ingest caffeine to help me stay awake,” Zoe Gannon ‘26 said. She adds that “caffeine makes me feel like really on edge and anxious. So I don’t like to drink it that much.’’
Jenn Sellenriek, English teacher, noticed the effects of caffeine on one of her students.
“I had a student, a sophomore girl, whose hands were shaking, and she was worried about it, and I said, ‘oh, have you eaten anything today?’ I think sometimes it’s low blood sugar. And I said, ‘or did you ingest a lot of caffeine?’ And she said that she had given up energy drinks, but she drank one yesterday. And so it felt like a lot after not having any for so long like that was probably like why her hands were literally shaking,” Sellenriek said.
In a recent trend, students have begun replacing high caffeinated energy drinks with lower caffeinated drinks.
“I drink decaf coffee. It means it’s less caffeinated. It’s not zero,” Will Fendler ‘26 said. In his opinion, “energy drinks are too sweet.”
Consuming large amounts of caffeine can sometimes have an overall negative impact on one’s body so many students have opted to try to reduce their consumption.
“I am trying to reduce my caffeine intake and the first days were harder, but I’m starting to get a little better at not needing caffeine,” Mileski said. “I would say, I’m somewhat addicted to caffeine. Sometimes it’s hard to go to sleep if I drink it more in the afternoon. I sometimes start shaking a lot, and, of course, I’ll stutter when I talk. So if I’m doing a presentation or have to talk in front of a group. Then I’m gonna stutter a lot. I’m gonna mispronounce words. I’m gonna, you know, have incomplete sentences.”
Students also primarily ingest caffeine during the school day due to the emotional appeal. “During club volleyball I drank a lot of Bubbl’rs and now I drink a lot of chai’s,” Shritha Devisetty ‘26 said. “Caffeine makes me happier and I’d probably be sad if I didn’t have a fun drink.”
However, some of the students are like Collin Walker ‘27. He runs track and spends a few hours doing homework every night, still getting limited sleep. Ultimately, he states “I try not to drink very much caffeine and I can make it through any school day without it.”
With two seasons of sports and homework being a graduation requirement, students at MICDS must learn to manage their time wisely. They offset the lack of sleep by using caffeine, but others simply just like the way it tastes.
“I occasionally drink a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks because they are delicious and it makes me happy,” Ashley Ordoñez ‘26 said.
