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New Starbucks brings variety to Florida Tech dining options

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by Johnny O’Brien

With the summer installment of a new Starbucks in the Clemente Center, students have lined up to try the first chain eatery offered on Florida Tech’s campus.

David Merced, a sophomore majoring in astrobiology, said he has enjoyed the new Starbucks and is looking forward to frequenting Center Court throughout the fall semester. “Starbucks is my favorite brand of coffee, so it’s nice to get all my favorite drinks and pastries in the middle of campus,” Merced said.

While Merced doesn’t have any preference as far as what dining options come to campus next, he wouldn’t mind seeing more. 

“It would be nice to see a wide variety of food that I could choose from at the Sub, as the only other major options for the time being are PDH and the Rat,” Merced said. 

The new campus eatery. Students are able to use Panther Cash for Starbucks items. | Johnny O’Brien

Aeronautical engineering major Nick La Rosa enjoys popping into the new Starbucks, as it’s a way for him to get cheaper brand coffee compared to an off-campus Starbucks.

“As a commute student, it’s nice to have a top brand of coffee for under five dollars,” La Rosa, who commutes from Sebastian, said. The option of paying with Panther Cash allows La Rosa to spend frugally elsewhere.

“Having that flexibility of using Panther Cash allows me to spend real money on books, gas for getting to school and the peace of mind knowing I’ll still have money to go out on the city for lunch,” La Rosa said.

Florida Tech alumna Lauren Goodacre, now in law school at George Mason University,  said she’s “a little mad” that a name brand chain was finally installed after her graduation, as she would’ve indulged at the new Starbucks every day. 

“It would be awesome to see Florida Tech implement a couple more brand chains, maybe a Subway or Chipotle,” Goodacre said.

Goodacre explained that she would like to see a variety of healthier options offered throughout campus, brand chain or not, saying that students usually order the same menu items when dining on campus. 

“Cleaner eating provides students a better chance to succeed in the classroom, so hopefully dining services takes the new Starbucks as an initiative to implement newer and cleaner eating around campus,” Goodacre said.

Local bar in the midst of potential closing

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Quarters has multiple arcades of retro games, such as Pac-Man and Galaga, for customers to play. Crimson // Olivia McKelvey

Drinking and playing arcade games wouldn’t be the same anymore in downtown Melbourne.

Quarters Brewery, a local bar in downtown Melbourne, announced on their Facebook page on Oct. 15 that profits were not enough to pay their landlord to keep the business running.

On their post titled “A Letter from the Owners…”, the company stated that they have found themselves at a crossroads.

“The ‘for lease’ sign is up, but we’re not done fighting yet,” mentions the post.

Quarters Brewery was created by best friends Tyler Griffiths and Brock Turner as a hobby project from homebrewing and creating game cabinets for people to enjoy.

The brewery opened on June 29, 2018 in downtown Melbourne, and attracts many adults to play arcade games while playing the arcade games such as Pac-Man and Galaga.

Brock, an alumni of Florida Tech and co-owner of the brewery, explained the reasoning for the announcement.

“Quarters has been having some issues staying afloat due to staggering prices of downtown rent,” Brock said. “Even though downtown has high foot traffic, Quarters’ customer base is more geared towards craft beer fans, video game enthusiasts, and the like.”

The Facebook post came as a shock to many of their customers, with supportive comments from customers and hundreds of shares throughout the site.

The brewery is a popular hotspot for the local community, including Florida Tech students and alumni.

“I’m upset that it’s [potentially] closing down,” said Faisal Ahmed, a graduate in business administration. “Every time I’m with my friends, we play the hockey game that they have as well as Pac-Man. I thought they were doing pretty well.”

The news was passed around through word of mouth for those that didn’t see the post on Facebook, such as Ahmed.

“I also heard the news through my friend Kevin,” said Siomara Nieves, a graduate in computer science. “I liked the place and its atmosphere was very cool and amazing. When I just wanna hang out and not stress about anything, I would go to Quarters and play.”

Quarters is currently a brewery that exclusively sells beer and a couple of wines.

Even if the majority of downtown establishments are full liquor bars, Brock has stated that they refuse in becoming one.

“We have expanded our offerings to include both hand crafted hard seltzers and more recently the introduction of a food menu as of September,” said Brock. “We also have events six times a week, such as trivia and beer bingo.”

Many Florida Tech students spend time at Quarters playing games and having a beer to let off steam. Crimson // Emily Walker

The company also stated that they do not intend on closing down and will continue their regular business to their best of their abilities.

“We appreciate all the support that we’re getting from folks as we try to make this work,” said Brock. “We’re optimistic about what the future holds for Quarters and as things progress, we hope to have positive news to share.”

The company posted an update on their Facebook page on Nov. 5 mentioning their audience’s support in their journey of staying open.

“We are working day and night on a plan that will allow us to not just stabilize Quarters,” but to make it bigger and better than before,” the company stated.

New plans in their campaign of saving the company, #SaveQuarters, include distributing to local vendors, like The Broken Barrel Tavern.

Future updates and current events of Quarters Brewery can be found on their Facebook page, Quarters Brewery and Arcade.

From Coffee Hour to International Night

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Aromas of dark roast coffee and cultural chatter of the middle east filled the first floor of the Evans library on Sept. 20: International nights have officially arrived.

With a turnout of about 40 to 50 students, the United Arab Emirates Student Association began their presentation with a video on the culture and heritage of their home country.

This was followed by a PowerPoint presentation that covered a variety of topics in the UAE about geography, politics, the economy and more.

Khaled Alsamri, the new president of the UAE Student Association, gave the presentation and ended it with a quick round of trivia during which he gave out three pairs of movie ticket vouchers to students who answered correctly.

Khaled Alsamri presents his culture in the library. Crimson // Christian Martinez

As the presentation came to an end, the event’s participants were dismissed for food and drinks from Panera Bread.

The food items served included traditional dishes from the UAE, balaleet and gaimat, juices and coffee.

Balaleet is described by Alsamri to be sweet and similar to spaghetti, while gaimat is fried bread balls that are sweet and covered with honey.

International Night will be the new name of last year’s International Coffee Hour.

With cultural presentations, foods, coffee, brochures and more, Alsamri likened the change to an “evolution of the Coffee Hour.”

The UAE Student Association was restarted this semester after disbanding in 2014 due to a lack of participating members, Alsamri said. The group now has 13 members.

Alsamri, a senior in mechanical engineering, restarted the UAE Association as he realized that “no one was delivering this culture to the campus.”

“Anyone is welcome to join the club so we can share the culture,” Alsamri said. Alsamri stated that the UAE Student association was approved by the school this past Tuesday.

As he is also a part of the International Student Service Organization, Alsamri organized the event with both organizations to share the culture of the UAE with the campus.

He had prior experience helping to organize the latest International Festival and being a part of about nine Coffee Hours.

Participants in the event, like Dominic Zaio, a freshman in mechanical engineering, said he enjoyed the event.

“It gives me the chance to try foods I might have never had,” Zaio said.

Zaio also said that he’d rather have the event focus more on the culture and less on statistics in the presentation.

Another freshman in chemical engineering, Md Tahmid Islam, expressed similar thoughts, saying he’d like for the event to “be longer and have some cultural activities be added.”

While it is unknown what culture will be presented, Corq currently has the next International Night, which has yet to be updated from International Coffee Hour in the app, listed to take place on Friday, Oct. 18 from 5:00-8:00 at Evans Library.