On St. Joe’s campus, the demand for caffeine tends to be quite high, especially as we all struggle through our essays and labs in the last stretch leading up to finals. Our options for coffee on the Hawk Hill campus currently include Saxbys, Starbucks, The Kettle, formerly Campion Dining Hall, and packaged drinks found in vending machines and the P.O.D. markets.

I personally don’t know a single person who actively enjoys Campion coffee, and I have found that vending machine caffeine is just not strong enough for a long Saturday afternoon of research or essay writing. Saxbys is unfortunately closed on the weekends, and Starbucks has extremely limited hours.

With this being said, Starbucks’ hours need to be extended. A coffee shop not only provides a place for people to get their daily “cup of Joe,” but it also serves as a study place for the community, and St. Joe’s is no exception. I have never been in the Starbucks on campus without there being at least one St. Joe’s student typing away, hard at work on their laptop. But, after 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, this study space is no longer available. This is an especially prevalent problem considering the library also has limited hours on the weekends, forcing students to regularly switch locations if they want to work for hours on end, uninterrupted.

However, this problem could be solved through an extension of Starbucks’ weekend hours. I understand the need for Starbucks employees to have a break, so I will not ask for the Starbucks management to employ the same schedule as weekdays. But an extension to 5 p.m. would be reasonable, I think.

This three-hour extension would give extra time in the afternoon for students to get coffee, do work and meet up with friends while allowing more time for Starbucks employees to work if they wish to. Keeping in mind Starbucks does not open until 8 a.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. on Sundays, and that many students like to sleep in on the weekends, this shift in hours would be perfect on a college campus.

We all need a space to fuel up and get things done, so I hope the Starbucks management will consider this change, and give us all more time with a designated space for coffee and study sessions on the weekends.