Throughout the state of Michigan, all schools are regulated by a mandate from the Michigan Department of Education that states the following: that all school vending machines must be turned off thirty minutes before class begins and may only be turned on again thirty minutes after class has ended. The reasoning for this? To eliminate competition with the school's own products.

I don't know about all of my other fellow students and how their schools operate, but at my school there is no competition. None. There's a school store and a cafeteria that are open during lunch periods, there's a teacher-sponsored doughnut sale every Friday, but that's it. There is no competition, and furthermore there's no reason as to why these machines shouldn't be operational during school hours.

That's why we're asking you- all of our fellow students, adults- to support us here. It sounds like a small issue, maybe: vending machines in schools? No big deal, right? But think about the students who can't get lunches, students who maybe aren't able to buy lunches from the cafeteria. Maybe even students who just forgot to bring a snack to school, or forgot their lunch bag on the counter. Should we deny them the ability to get their food from vending machines due to some invisible "competition" that exists between these mechanical boxes and our government-funded schools? If you disagree with the way our vending machines are run, please help support the cause by signing our petition. Every little bit matters.