Coffee sales have increased significantly due to the start of the school year and students’ dependence on the caffeinated beverage, according to local business records. SHS students are spending so much money on coffee that corporations, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s, are offering a student discount with every coffee sold to high school students.

Rewards cards are available for $50 at wherever fresh, hot coffee is sold. Cardholders will have a discount of 3 percent taken off their total for every individual serving of coffee purchased. Students have reacted positively to this promotion.

“I drink coffee every day,” senior Charlotte Murphy said. “I have to because I’m staying up so late with the hours of homework I’m given every night.”

Students are buying more cups of coffee than they could ever drink in one sitting, stashing it in gallon jugs, portable refrigerators and their cars to stockpile for times when coffee will be scarce.

Brew Research Center estimates that the amount of adolescents drinking coffee has grown exponentially since a study conducted in 2004 measuring how many U.S. teens are indulging in caffeine. In 2004, just under 20,000 people ages 16 to 18 said they drink coffee every day. In 2018, 200,000 people ages 16 to 18 say they drink coffee every day.

This phenomenon has negatively impacted the teachers at SHS who say their students are getting their assignments done faster than they can be assigned. English teacher Cara Melton has witnessed this disturbing trend among her Dual Credit English students.

“Since it’s a DC class, I give them the syllabus during the first week of school. It lists every assignment they’re to complete by the end of the semester. By the first month, half of my students had completed the entire syllabus. Although their coffee intake vastly improves their productivity, I fear that it’s not helping them retain any information on the assignments they’re doing.”