The scorching sun reflects off of your desiccated water bottle as you finally finish your last lap of the mile in PE, so, as a last resort, you drag your feet over to the vending machine, fiending for a crisp bottle of water or a glorious chocolate milk. As you struggle to get the coins out of your wallet, you realize none of the vending machines are operating, so you sink to the floor, cursed to use the questionably potable water fountains.
 This is the reality Liberty students are faced with due to the vending machines being locked or shut off for the majority of the time we spend at school.
 The vending machines offer a wide variety of snacks and beverages that are not offered in the lunch line, at the Patriot Pantry, or at the L’Cafe. They have several more flavors of chips, as well as beef jerky, peanuts, granola bars, and my personal favorite, Black Forest gummies. Not to mention the chocolate milk which is ten times better than the one that comes in a carton.

Speaking as someone who regularly gets lunch from the lunch line, I have never seen any of those for sale there when buying my food

Don’t get me wrong, I love the regular lunch line. I wish I could always have the fruit punch Snapple on IV, but I can’t and that’s part of the problem. I can only have lunch at lunch, so what am I supposed to snack on the rest of the day

I practically live at school; I’m here nearly an hour early every morning and I have rehearsals, club meetings, games to take photos of, or some other after-school event at school almost every day. I need sustenance to get through it all and the vending machines are my only real option.

I’m not the only one; student athletes, performers, and avid club meeting attendees alike struggle with the same problem. 

Food is fuel. We learn from an early age that it is important not to let your body go without food for too long because food is what keeps us going. Students are expected to do well in school; if we are meant to fulfill this expectation, we should be allowed access to food when we need it. Succeeding academically can become a difficult task to take on when we can’t think about anything other than hunger.