As the strong smell of coffee fills her nose and a low roar of people muttering softly to one another amplifies in the room, senior Alex Freige works diligently to satisfy the growing demand of Frappuccinos from the abundance of studying students.

Freige has been working at Starbucks since February. She said she looks forward to the loving environment set in place by her fellow workers every day.

“[I love] being with my coworkers,” Freige said. “We call them partners. They just make my day better. We all get along, I love them so much.”

While the environment among workers is fun and loving, the customers neglect to follow that path sometimes.

“The most difficult part of work is keeping up with our customers on certain days, especially happy hour on Thursdays,” Freige said. “They can get kind of crazy over a cup of coffee.“

For most students, after-school activities vary between studying, sleeping or catching up on their social life. For Freige, she heads to Starbucks, racking up close to and sometimes more than 40 hours a week.

“Depending on the week and how much they’re willing to schedule me, I usually do a 3:30 to 11 shift every day.” Freige said.

Freige used to work at Parsnipity Cafe, which is located downtown. She went on to say the environment was overall too stressful for her to handle while also juggling school work as well as extracurricular activities.

“Starbucks pays really well and they’re really compatible,” she said. “It was a way better environment than where I was before. On nights that we’re really slow, my coworkers and I will go into the back corner and talk after everything is done. We all like to dig deep and know more about each other than just the surface.”

According to Freige, one big perk about working at Starbucks is making all of her favorite drinks, especially at the espresso bar.

“I like the espresso bar because I prefer to make anything with steamed milk,” Freige said. “Hot bar doesn’t take a long time like cold bar, everything is in one place. My favorite drink to make would have to be a caramel macchiato, iced. It’s very popular and simple to make, but my favorite drink to have is a London Fog latte with soy milk.”

Freige has a suggestion for people searching for a good morning drink.

“If you’re looking for good coffee and something that genuinely tastes good, our vanilla sweet cream cold brew is so good,” she said. “It wakes you up, and it’s just everything you need in a cup.”

Throughout her time at Starbucks, Freige said she has made lots of valuable memories and relationship that will last a lifetime.

“My favorite memory at work is with Amber,” Freige said. “She’s my shift supervisor and usually works mornings. [. . .] We were all messing around making jokes. I got a video of Amber running across the bar like a gorilla. She’s just so funny and goofy.”

Despite her strong bond with her coworkers and the homey feel of Starbucks that Freige has grown to love, it’s only a stepping stone to becoming something great.

“I love the people I work with and Starbucks pays good, but this isn’t what I want to do forever. “