Uncovering Breakfast Club’s secret sauce

Every Monday morning, rain or shine, USN students walk towards the 19th Avenue entrance to a familiar sight: Breakfast Club.

The sizzling of pans with freshly made pancakes and hot sausages adds to the morning air’s buzz. Serving food to all who ask, Breakfast Club provides a warm embrace back into the school week.

Since its inception in the 2021-22 school year, Breakfast Club has served breakfast to both middle and high school students as they return to school after the weekend break. Over the years, as club members have come and gone, the menu has evolved.

“We used to do eggs, and we used to do bacon, but those are never coming back as menu items,” club member Lucas Nichols Loller ‘27 noted. “No one wants cold eggs, and eggs get cold fast, and they burn fast too…There are reasons why we don’t have [those breakfast staples] back on the menu.”

Nowadays, Bisquick pancakes and sausages dominate the morning menu, with occasional surprise baked goods or hot chocolate making appearances. Still, even with a shortened menu, the batches of breakfast offerings are enjoyed by numerous USN students. Anyone can come pick up a plate of hot food every Monday. Students, faculty members, and even parents are welcome to drop by to grab a pancake or two in the morning, creating a unique space within the USN community.

“It’s a point of social interaction. So, some of the kids, like the middle schoolers, who I also know from Eye to Eye, just come. We have regulars, people who come every single Monday, and it’s just a chance to socialize with them,” Nichols Loller said.

Beyond serving as a quick morning greeting space, he adds that Breakfast Club serves a vital purpose for many USN students: providing a balanced breakfast.

“[Our] role is to provide breakfast to anyone who wants it. USN is stressful because you just have a lot of work to do all the time. And sometimes you forget to do normal things, like eating,” Nichols Loller added.

Longstanding Breakfast Club member and senior Lorenzo Barrera-Vinha ‘26 echoes this sentiment and elaborates on how Breakfast Club adds to school culture as a whole.

“You know, it really embodies that USN vibe,” Barrera-Vinha said.

His brother, Valentin Barrera-Vinha ‘24, was one of Breakfast Club’s original leaders. Lorenzo adds that one of the club’s missions in those early days was to bring a few moments of joy into students’ lives as they made the much-bemoaned trudge up to the 19th Avenue lobby. A lot of work goes into making that goal a reality.

“The night before or the morning of, I go to Kroger. Some weeks I’ll get breakfast sausages and Bisquick, whatever we need…and then I wake up at six, I get my own breakfast at home, and bike to school. I get there at 7:00 or 7:10,” Nichols Loller said, while running through his Breakfast Club morning routine.

Senior and Breakfast Club newcomer Mario Tedeschi and Barrera-Vinha go through what one of their Monday mornings might look like when they help set up for the morning buffet service.

“[Around] 7:00 to like 7:10, people start trickling in. The first person to get there gets the table out from the Gordon Multipurpose room…then, we get all of our pans and stuff from [faculty sponsor Mackey]. Luffman’s room, or, like, even [some from] the faculty lounge on the third floor,” Tedeschi explained.

“And then we make breakfast,” Barrera-Vinha added.

From cooking sausage to serving pancakes, the rest of Breakfast Club’s mornings follow a familiar  pattern.

“We start making the sausages and plugging everything in…and then mixing the batter for the pancakes. And…then we just pack up. We send…whoever’s unlucky to wash the dishes,to pack up all the stuff and put it back in Mr. Luffman’s room,” Tedeschi continued.

Once the pots and pans are put away, Breakfast Club falls back into its six-day-long hibernation.

One might think its irregularity might prompt club members not to show up or to lose interest. Nichols Loller dispels this notion.

“I just came to it out of necessity, because no one was coming to Breakfast Club…I love the Breakfast Club community. I love interacting with the USN students. I really enjoy that: the people who come every week and are excited to have food. And then also I love my fellow Breakfast Club members…it provides a lot of entertainment and enrichment in my life,” Nichols Loller said.

Barrera-Vinha agrees.

“I really [appreciate] the Breakfast Club members,” Barrera-Vinha said.

No one can agree on Breakfast Club’s ‘official leader,’ which only adds to the magic. The club shows up once a week just to bring a little joy to USN students’ lives. That mission does not need a specific leader; however, it does need new people to keep it going.

“It’s really whatever the younger generation makes it,” Nichols Loller said in relation to the club’s future.

Barrera-Vinha adds one last hint as to what the Breakfast Club meetings could look like for the rest of this year, and the idea of possibly introducing a new menu item.

“If we started bringing donuts again, I feel like that would help quite a bit,” Barrera-Vinha said.

When the next Monday morning arrives, Breakfast Club will once again go through its tradition of serving food to anyone who asks. A USN staple, the smell of cooking sausages will once again permeate the 19th Avenue air, bringing with it a sense of community.