The student jogs out of class, headed to his next class. His quick five-minute trip will have a small detour. His stomach reminds him that skipping breakfast was not a smart idea. As he rounds the corner of the hall, he sees no line in front of the vending machines. What he thought was a stroke of luck turned to a feeling of doom. Where the small, overpriced bags of chips and healthy snacks once appeared was nothing. No pretzels. No baked hot Cheetos. Nothing.

Vending machines have always been a source of snacks for students, but for the last few weeks they have been empty. It is not supply chain issues keeping the snacks away. The decision to clean out the machines was made because of time the machines took away from learning.

“The vending machines are being removed because they are taking away time from students’ education,” Assistant Principal Eric King said.

With two sides of the story, the students are for the vending machines.

“I loved the vending machines because if I ever got hungry I could go and get a snack,” senior Ava Semler said “I do not agree with the vending machines getting taken away. A lot of kids would be able to hold off their hunger until lunch with a snack from the vending machines.”

Many students are not happy that the vending machines are being taken away.

“I don’t understand why the vending machines are getting taken away,” junior Hutton Hoegemeyer said. “They say that it’s because too many students are late, but if kids are okay with getting one tardy then it shouldn’t matter if they are trying to control their hunger.”

Many athletes feel that vending machines getting taken away is a bad idea.

“I’m sad that they are taking away the vending machines because if I ever missed lunch or didn’t have enough time to eat breakfast, I could just get something from the vending machine,” sophomore Derek Lagway said. “There were a lot of snacks that would have good portions that would kind of fill you up, and they would give me energy to get through practice.”

Another reason students aren’t happy about the vending machines being removed is because they do not always like the school lunch.

“I have never like school lunch, so I would heavily depend on vending machines to get food through the day,” junior Lucy Smith said. “I don’t agree with the vending machines getting taken away because if a student is hungry they should be able to leave class to control their hunger, and either way it’s not going to take them more than five minutes, so they wouldn’t really miss anything in class.”

Administration disagrees. For now, snacks will be brought from home or obtained from the cafeteria.

“Instructional time is too important to waste any of it making trips back and forth to the vending machines,” Principal Stephanie Hodgins said. “Not to mention that the groups of students who chose to congregate there caused significant disruptions to our learning environment. Perhaps there will be a day when the vending machines can return, but for now, I recommend you bring a snack.”