It never crossed the minds of friends Maddie Johnson, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, and Laura Russell, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, that a quick conversation in the line at the David A. Straz Brew would lead to this year’s creation of one of the hottest (or coldest, with ice) new clubs on campus: the Coffee Club.
Both founders became coffee lovers at different times in their lives; Johnson started out at a young age, which led to a two-cups-of-coffee-a-day routine, while Russell started drinking coffee later in high school when she became a barista at her local Einstein Bros. Bagels and Caribou Coffee joint. Nonetheless, their friendship and mutual love for coffee made the start of the club inevitable.
The pair met in the summer of 2017 during their first official stay on campus for SPARK , the two-day introduction to campus event for incoming freshmen to learn about Marquette and register for classes. Last semester, they ran into each other in the line at the Straz Brew when Russell mentioned that she would love to start a coffee club on campus. Johnson eagerly agreed, and they decided to act on it.
“We texted each other later that day saying we should actually do this. … We just took it and ran,” Russell said.
Once they decided to create their own club, the long process of putting it in motion came into play. Starting any official club on campus requires certain steps to be completed.
“When we decided we wanted to do it, it took about two plus months,” Johnson said.
Russell explained the process.
“We had to get signatures first to make sure people were interested, turn that form in, and from there we met with the advisers and that’s when we had to start drafting a constitution with rules,” Russell said.
Once they drafted the constitution, they had to go through a pseudo-interview process to make sure that their vision for the club aligned with Marquette’s values. Once they finalized everything, they had a meeting with the Office of Student Development and the Center for Leadership, Service and Involvement to officially approve their club.
The first meeting was September 5th at AMU 254. About 40 people showed up, and they have about 140 people on their email list, Johnson and Russell said.
One of the members, Lauren Buday, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she is excited about being part of a new, unique campus club.
“This club is really fun because you get to go to the coffee shops and talk to the people who work there and get background,” Buday said. “I’m excited for the tours that are set up at different locations and then the people who work there are able to take us behind the scenes, show us how everything is done.”
Besides being excited for the actual club activities, Buday expressed her excitement for the club bringing together people — no matter their grades or majors — through a shared love for coffee.
The club’s next event is a study night at Colectivo Coffee on Wednesday, October 10th, where members will be able to study together while enjoying cups of coffee. On November 10th, the group has a Stone Creek Factory Tour planned.
