BY MARISSA MARTINEZ 

Selling food on campus is very common within the students here at WCHS. Students bring duffle bags of about 30 to 40 chips a day and sell them for a dollar to other students. If they’re not so lucky, security guards are allowed to take away the duffle bag full of chips, and sometimes even administrate a ticket for soliciting on school grounds.

The food WCHS serves us is uncooked and disgusting, so I don’t blame the students that decide to risk soliciting on campus. Chips and burritos are sold here by the students. I buy chips almost everyday and most of the time, the students that sell, sell out before nutrition ends! Really, these items are our only other option of food on campus, except the privilege of having off-campus lunch. However, few of the students here have that considering the fact that it’s only for juniors and seniors with a good overall GPA. ASB sells food, but it’s a very small portion and it must follow the nutritional guidelines they must follow in order to sell food. I personally think our school should allow us to sell food amongst our peers because they clearly can’t satisfy our hunger throughout the seven hour school day. Students do no harm in soliciting on campus; it’s actually beneficial to the students that genuinely need the money to support themselves.

“I sell chips to have money in my pocket. I come from a family of five, so I never really have any money. Selling chips gives me the opportunity to get things for myself. I sell chips at school knowing that I’m not allowed to, but I’m just grinding because the money gets me motivated,” senior Isaacc Rodriguez said.

The sale of goods on campus is not only governed by a district policy, but a state law, which is soliciting. The district only allows the students to sell food for fundraising purposes and at that, the food they fundraise must meet the nutritional guidelines they provide for the schools in the district. ASB gets audited every year.

“I have to show the district every year the food I sell to the students meet the nutritional guidelines, and that’s for every school. But some can be more lenient” said Melanie Wong, the director of ASB.

I don’t think selling food on campus is as problematic as the staff makes it. I feel like if the students started setting up stands of food, then that’s when they can start issuing tickets and whatever consequences they decide to give. In reality, six kids, at the most ten, don’t affect the school by selling chips or burritos.