During the beginning of the school year, Mark Keppel High School’s vending machines were shut down within one month of students’ return. Students of all grades have been upset about the shut down, as they are no longer able to purchase snacks near the gym at Aztec Court and near the electrical generator in Palm Court during passing period or during lunch.

The vending machines provided a stable supply of snacks and drinks for students to buy when they couldn’t get meals from the cafeteria or if they needed a quick nutrition break. According to a student poll conducted on Facebook, more than 70 to 80 percent of students used the vending machines before they were shut down.

Although students are upset about the closing of the vending machines, new machines are expected to be put back in order as soon as they are installed. Once the school stocks up the machines with snacks and drinks, students can continue going to the Aztec Court Gym and Palm Court during lunch or passing periods to purchase snacks again.

“I don’t want to carry a gigantic bottle,” Ryan Tu, a junior at Mark Keppel, says. “I want the vending machines to work.”

Other than snacks, necessities such as water have been offered at these same vending machines, in which students were able to hold bottles of water rather than dangling over a fountain. “They provided water…there’s drinking fountains around the campus,” said Lera Lee, another junior at Mark Keppel.

“[There were] a lot of technical difficulties,” Nicolas Nguyen, Assistant Principal of Business and Activities, says. “When all three high schools brought up the concern to the district, we’re in the process of getting a new vendor.”

The availability of the vending machines is important to students of Mark Keppel High, as well as benefiting the district as a whole. If vending machines are put back in order, it can be expected that students will purchase food and drinks like they have before. They are expected to use the money made from the purchases to improve various aspects of the district.