Students walked into school on the first day to a lot of changes, but the one that stuck out the most was the vending machines that are no longer a part of Freedom High School. Those vending machines were mostly used for students who stayed after school so they could have a snack before a sporting event or practice.

“It’s a struggle because if you don’t bring food to school then you don’t have the opportunity to eat before you go to practice,” Senior Casey Spieler said.

It’s a federal law that the vending machines can not be on during school hours. Shortly after the last bell at school rang [30 minutes to be exact] is when the machines were allowed to be turned on and they stayed on until midnight everyday. One of the most common questions being asked by students is, well, where did they go?

“The vending machines were taken out of the school because they did not follow the school nutrition regulations,” Dawn Fronius said. Fronius is in charge of the Food Service Department at Freedom Area School District. Fronius also mentioned that if there were to ever be a vending machine put back into the school, it would be healthier and filled with nutritious snacks.

Complaints aren’t only spread around about the vending machines being gone, but there are also complaints about the school lunches tasting different than they used to.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (or better known as the USDA) has specific regulations that schools have to follow when serving school lunches. There are days where students are told that they need to pick up an extra fruit or vegetable to complete their lunch because that’s a USDA guideline. All students must obtain fruits and vegetables in their lunch. The USDA is also trying to decrease the amount of sodium that goes into school lunches. Any food that’s served in a school has to meet the Federal meal requirements. Although the type of food that’s served and how it’s prepared is made from the local school food authorities.

“The portions that we are served in lunch have gotten smaller over the years, which has made people mad, and now with the vending machines being taken out people are just going to become angry,” Senior Joshua Battaglia said.

The portion size in the school lunches have gone down which made people turn to getting food from the vending machines for after school activities such as sports, clubs or even the musical.

Students also used to be able to sell Anderson’s candy bars as a fundraiser for a specific club and due to the USDA regulations those candy bars are no longer allowed to be sold during school hours.

People often wonder what percent of the profit made from those machines actually go towards the school. With less than 15 percent of the profit going to the school, “It’s not worth having a vending machine,” Fronius said.

“[The profit that the school did keep went] towards the junior class to help defray the cost of prom,” Junior class representative John Rosa said. The vending machines were always able to help not only with hunger but with them being gone new ways to defray the cost of prom will have to be thought of.

It’s unlikely that FHS will see changes regarding the vending machines, but only time will tell.