Hydr8Stx: How Two High School Athletes Built Their Own Hydration Brand
After back-to-back lacrosse games at a weekend tournament, St. Francis High School student Dominic Bonnici ’28 walks onto the field for his third game of the day when his legs start to cramp. His parents keep Gatorade out of his hands, wary of the sugar, and hand him an electrolyte supplement instead. Bonnici drinks the supplement, but can’t get past the overly salty taste, wishing he’d suffered through the cramp instead of forcing the supplement down again. On the same team, playing through the same tournament, Loyola High School student Mason Mejia ’27 is dealing with the same problem. By the end of the tournament, Bonnici and Mejia realized that they weren’t the only ones left feeling unsatisfied after drinking electrolyte supplements, and that shared frustration eventually grew into their hydration brand, Hydr8Stx.
Bonnici and Mejia grew up together, attending the same middle school, and both were interested in entrepreneurship. Rather than searching for a better electrolyte drink, Bonnici said they decided to build one together.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to do something with entrepreneurship,” Bonnici said. “The idea for Hydr8Stx really came out of our own experience as high school athletes. We’re around hydration products constantly through practices, games, tournaments, and training, but we kept coming back to the fact that very few of the brands felt like they were actually being built for athletes our age.”
Hydr8Stx was first released to the public on August 23, 2026, after workshopping the product for almost one year. It currently comes in two flavors: piña colada and lemon lime. Mejia said he and Bonnici went through several rounds of testing before the official launch to get feedback on the product they created.
“We tested different ideas within our own community,” Mejia said. “We brought the different samples and let [our teams] give their different opinions after practice. We did a bunch of lab testing without having to sacrifice the needed nutrients to get less of a salty taste. Eventually we landed on our first two flavors, Piña Colada as a unique flavor to keep people interested, and Lemon Lime as a staple, normal flavor.”
Unlike other electrolyte brands on the market, Bonnici said Hydr8Stx focuses on cutting the salty aftertaste that other electrolyte brands are known for.
“The two things we strive to do better are the flavor and the taste,” Bonnici said. “One thing I did notice between my friends and family is that no one said they couldn’t drink [Hydr8Stx] because it’s so salty, like the other electrolyte companies that [make supplements]. We found that perfect balance and decided to stick to it.
But building Hydr8Stx was more work than just perfecting a formula. As high school students, Bonnici and Mejia had to figure out how to start and run a business while still managing schoolwork and varsity sports.
Mejia said figuring out what activities to prioritize was one of the biggest challenges he experienced.
“The main thing I’ve learned is to know where you put your priorities,” Mejia said. “Schoolwork will always come first, but you have to make time to do the things you love, whether it’s sacrificing sleep or sacrificing parties. It really shows that if you put [the work] into it, you’ll get what you put in.”
Bonnici said he and Mejia split responsibilities based on their strengths, with Mejia keeping the business on track while he focused on generating ideas.
“I’m the type of guy that comes up with the crazy ideas while Mason’s the guy that keeps me on task,” Bonnici said. “I’m really appreciative to have Mason as my business partner because without Mason, this wouldn't be possible.”
Once both Bonnici and Mejia had decided on a vision for the product, they needed to find a manufacturer. However, this was harder than they had anticipated. After sending over 20 cold emails, Mejia said they got a response.
“Obviously we didn’t get the first manufacturer we emailed,” Mejia said. “It’s just reaching out and putting yourself out there and not being afraid to show your creativity.”
Part of running Hydr8Stx meant the two founders needed to learn skills neither of them had going into the project. Bonnici said one of the biggest lessons came during a call with the brand’s designer when he and Mejia realized they weren’t as prepared as they thought.
“We went on a Zoom call with our designer, Mauro Gatti, when he asked, ‘What do you guys want to do?’” Bonnici said. “We froze because we didn’t have any idea [what we wanted] since we thought they would do it for us because that’s the designer's job. But that’s not what happens. The adult part I had to learn was that you have to come up with the initial thought, and then they perfect it.”
Mejia said this moment reflected a broader lesson about entrepreneurship.
“You can have an idea, but you have to learn that it’s not that simple,” Mejia said. “You have to do the branding, the website, the research, and the lab testing. [This project] is definitely a good experience, especially while we’re young.”
Despite the challenges of building a business from scratch, Bonnici and Mejia have since built Hydr8Stx into something bigger than just a product. The product is now available through its website, with Bonnici and Mejia advertising their journey on Instagram and TikTok.
The founders said they also launched an Athlete Board, a program that allows other teen athletes to share the product with their own communities in exchange for a commission.
“The idea is to create a growing community of athletes who use the product, give us feedback, create content, introduce Hydr8Stx to their teammates and schools, and ultimately help influence where the brand goes,” Bonnici and Mejia said. “We’ve also built a team partnership program that allows teams and athletic programs to participate and receive a portion of the sales they help generate.”
Just three days after the launch, Bonnici and Mejia already have around 70 Athlete Board members, including various high school and college athletes.
“Collectively, [Board members] already created more than 100 social posts about the brand, and the early sales have been well beyond what we expected,” Bonnici and Mejia said.
As the founders approach the two-week mark since officially launching their brand, Bonnici and Mejia said they’ve barely slept due to the many orders, but that the personal connection has been the most rewarding part of the launch so far.
“We haven’t slept much this week because most of our hours outside of school have been spent packing and fulfilling orders,” Bonnici and Mejia said. “For some of the local orders, we’ve even been delivering them ourselves so we can meet and thank some of the people who supported us right at the beginning. That part has probably been the coolest thing about launching. Something that started as an idea between the two of us is suddenly being shared and built by athletes we didn’t even know a few weeks ago.”
Looking ahead, both said the mission behind Hydr8Stx hasn’t changed since their idea first came together after that lacrosse tournament.
“The bigger vision is still the same as when we started: to build a hydration brand specifically for our generation of athletes, and to build it alongside them rather than simply selling to them,” Bonnici and Mejia said.
Comments