Imagine this, it’s 12:00 pm on a Tuesday, you woke up at 8:15, just enough time to get to school on time but not enough to remember to pack your lunch and new Owala water bottle but it’s ok because you’re going to buy lunch.
Since the pandemic school lunches have been free for everyone and since you always bring lunch, your parents never put money in your account.
Going without water the entire morning, you are very thirsty, so you grab water with your yummy pizza. At the counter you put in your PIN only to be told by the lunch lady that you have to put it back because you do not have the funds to pay. Confused because lunch is supposed to be free, you ask what you can drink. Your options: 2% milk and a room temperature juice box. Disgusted with your options you go without and spend the rest of your school day thinking of how much you need water. Bottled water should come free with lunch just like milk and juice does.
Very few high school students are willing to drink regular or chocolate milk with their meal like commonly done in elementary school. Juice boxes are only 4 oz of liquid with 14 grams of sugar. A volume only suitable for hydrating a 5 year old prompts most kids to take multiple boxes which doubles or triples waste and sugar consumption.
Juice offered at our school is unrefrigerated, made from concentrate, is high in sugar, and contains unknown natural flavors. Because this is free, students are always going to choose it over a priced water.
The school should be encouraging students to hydrate with a healthy choice by offering free bottles of water.
Milk and juice containers are difficult to recycle because they would need to be cleaned of their contents before going in the recycling bin. All of the juice boxes the school consumes end up in the trash. While plastic bottles are not good for the environment, they are easier to recycle because they can just be placed in the bin by a student.
It seems that a student can take up to three juice boxes before they are charged an extra 75 cents but a single 16.9 oz bottled water is where they draw the line. Water is enjoyed by most people while milk and juice is only liked by some, especially to have with a meal.
Some will say that water can be accessed through bubblers throughout the school, but if someone doesn’t have an empty water bottle they cannot use the filling station and drinking the room temperature water from the bacteria filled spout is a subpar choice.
Even if the school cannot afford to just offer one free water bottle with each free lunch, the price at one dollar is clearly for-profit. On Amazon, a 24 pack of the water offered in RMHS goes for $18.49, only 77 cents a bottle; when bought in bulk, this price could go down even lower.
It’s time we allow all drinks to come free with a meal. We all know water is the best beverage for our bodies and RMHS should be encouraging its consumption. Fresh cold water is something we should all have access to.
