At most schools, students participate in an outside internship to gain professional experience. But at Mission Bay High School (MBHS), Buc Cafe and Store gives students the same opportunity right on campus. “It puts Mission Bay students a step ahead of students from other schools – a step ahead in applying to universities and a step ahead if they’re currently working, to take the knowledge they’re learned in the student store and turn it around,” said MBHS principal Fred Hilgers. On April 21, San Diego Unified School District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Buc Cafe, which has been open and fully operational at MBHS since October. The store is the first Proposition S project completed at the school. “For all the schools that are going to be funded by Prop S, this is going to be kind of a window into what’s coming … and how it can be diversified for each campus,” Hilgers said. Buc Cafe, located on the east side of campus, sells snacks and clothes to students and makes deliveries to teachers during their prep periods. All the profits made at the store go toward student scholarships. “When we talk about the fabric of the school, this is just one of those strands that helps tie it together,” Hilgers said. The store is staffed by students from the business management and ownership class taught by business teacher Clark James. While running the store, students apply finance, management and marketing knowledge in a practical manner. “Every single student in our class are interns,” James said. “They’re all interns because every single student has to work in the store at one time or another. It helps them bridge the gap from education to life.” MBHS senior Ivette Salceda is president of finance at Buc Cafe and plans to study accounting in college next year. Among her responsibilities are the coordination of deliveries and daily, weekly and monthly store profit calculations. “It’s really cool because it helps me for the future,” Salceda said. “It helps me put things that I learn in the classroom in test here.” Unlike most businesses, it doesn’t ultimately matter whether Buc Cafe makes a profit. In the black or in the red, the store gives students professional experience that is difficult to put a price on. “It helps us prepare more for the real world,” said MBHS senior Christopher Giron. “We see things differently.”