Sweet, Sweet Tea

Sweet tea has become a kind of sensation at FCHS since the Culinary students have begun to prepare and sell it to students.  The tea has students flocking to the carts by the elevators where it is sold between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd block classes. The Culinary students prepare the tea and stock the cart during class and then sell them after the bell has rung at the end of that period.  

Waves of students have been migrating to the sweet tea carts and students can be seen dispersing through the halls, a sweet tea in hand.  Each day, teacher Jonnay Grooms’ Culinary students sell around 150 styrofoam cups full of tea, which means they sell out daily. The shortages seem to have only increased its popularity.  “I enjoy selling tea. Making and selling [it] is fast-paced, and I like that,” said junior Amiyah Carter.

The money raised by selling tea is used by the Culinary classes to buy new equipment, food and ingredients, as well as to help fund field trips.  New equipment paired with access to new foods and ingredients helps expand the variety and extent of their culinary skills, while the field trips provide a new perspective on cooking, baking, and preparing dishes. 

The students say they enjoy making tea and selling it together on the various floors.  When they sell the tea together, they form what they like to call the “tea teams.” “I used to make tea, but now I only sell it because making it is much harder than selling it is,” said junior Malik Glasgow.  These are groups that come together and prepare the tea and cart and take it up to a floor to sell on a particular day. The teams are usually three to four people who make, transport, and sell about 50 cups of tea.

While the Culinary students are only selling tea at the moment, they will soon be expanding to lemonade to add a little variety.