Blaine High School has nine accessible vending machines for students. The community of Blaine High School questions how often the food is changed. According to Secretary Ann Mason “The machines are changed once a week, and it really depends on how busy the machines are”.

Also Midwest Vending comes to exchange the food out, and they regularly check the machines to see if the food needs to be restocked or changed. Principal of Blaine High School John Phelps can confirm the fact that the companies do change them out very often and very early in the morning.

As for the change in the actual food variety, the district sets strict limitations on what can and cannot be sold in the High School’s vending machines.  Thus, the Anoka-Hennepin School District applies the Wellness Policy to all food within the district schools. The majority of items provided in the vending machines are whole grain products that contain less sugars, and the federal government also supports this change to whole grain and less sugars.

The Distributive Education Clubs of America, also known as the DECA den has to follow the district guidelines. Mazen Hammad (12) who works in the DECA den states that “as of now we sell things like Mentos, Popcorn, Chips, Pringles, Chex Mix, and gum”. This slight change is contributing to making things more healthier around Blaine High School.

In our interview with John Phelps, there was a sample basket in the corner from Fresh Healthy Vending. They offer foods such as Popped Chips, Pirates Booty Popcorn and many other healthy choices that are also tasty.  Fresh Healthy Vending could possibly be in Blaine High School’s future.

In addition, all of the profit made from vending machines goes into a General Finance Account that is distributed across the general student body as well as the faculty. “If a student needs a new desk, we can use money from the finance account to buy a new one” said Finance Secretary Advisor of Blaine, Julie Gunderson. All in all, the administration of Anoka Hennepin has been researching and bringing in healthier snack choices to all their schools within the district. “Learning today affects your future in the long run, the same concept applies with food” said John Phelps.