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Fremont High School
PHOENIX
Vol. 7 Issue No. 1 Oct. 12, 2018
Saying goodbye to milk tea sales at FHS by Samhitha Tumkur & Fiona O’Bannon
Collaboration
Clubs this year are facing a new concern: they no longer have the ability to sell food, specifically milk tea, during lunchtime as a result of statewide nutritional policies. These policies are not new, although it is only recently that they have been strongly enforced at Fremont High School. This battle of whether milk tea should be sold at school has been debated for a couple of years. For example in 2016, the Phoenix wrote a story about how selling milk tea during school hours violated district and state policies. The following year, selling milk tea was temporarily banned, but was repealed later than year. These policies were established by the government over concern of what students eat during school hours, specifically, concern over the healthiness of student-sold food and drink items like milk tea or popcorn chicken.
Drawings courtesy of Anubha Gupta and Samhitha Tumkur
“The idea is to change practices at schools, and to make sure that our students and our generations are building habits that ensure that they’re eating properly,” said George Bechara, Dean of Students. In previous years, students have relied heavily on the demand for food and drink services like milk tea and popcorn chicken in order to fund their clubs. “Last year, we did a lot of milk tea fundraisers.” said junior Dottie Yu, the co-captain of the Speech and Debate Club. “That was our main way of . We had about $1000 by the end of the year as a result of five or six milk tea fundraisers. I don’t think we did any other fundraising aside from that.” Although these foods have been popular fundraisers, they do not meet any of the district’s nutritional standards. The amount of sugar and sodium that students consume through these products go against the district’s attempt to promote healthy eating habits and a balanced diet. Attempts to regulate sugar consumption have already been placed in the
Fremont Union High School District’s (FHS) policy. These efforts include regulating school provided food services, such as school lunch and vending machines, to fit nutritional standards. However, the 2018 to 2019 school year marks FHS’ first official year as a non-
The idea is to change practices at schools, and to make sure that our students and our generations are building habits that ensure that they’re eating properly George Bechara
food fundraising school. According to the district regulations, student organizations are only allowed to sell food on campus after 2:45 p.m, during seventh block. Unlike last year, selling any food before or during school is prohibited, excluding the district-approved Tastes of the World event. During Tastes of the World, clubs are allowed to fundraise by selling foods which do not have to meet state nutritional guidelines. Apart from this event, student organizations will mainly have to fundraise without in-school food services. According to George Bechara, Dean of Students, the only other exception is if students wanted to sell fruits and vegetables during lunchtime. However, those too would require clubs to get ex-
plicit approval from the school before being able to sell to the student body. While these changes have been put in place with the intent to push students toward a less sugary diet, the sudden loss of both milk tea, and a way for clubs to fundraise, has some students concerned. Many students found buying milk tea at school lunchtime convenient, since many of them lack the ability to drive off campus to buy it. “I bought the milk tea at school specifically because I had and have all 7 classes …so I just buy it at school so that I can have some sort of caffeine to hold me over” said junior Chelsea Batalla. “I don’t have a car so I can’t just drive to some tea house during lunch.” Fremont’s location and 45 minute lunches make it difficult for students to buy milk tea during school hours. Especially since the nearest milk tea vendor, Sharetea, is about a mile away. Since most students at Fremont High School, do not have their own cars, it would take about 40 minutes back and forth from school. “It’s really frustrating because we don’t have any boba shops nearby and we always have to wait until the end of school,” said senior Khoa Tran. “Unless one of can drive, otherwise it’s impossible for us to get boba during lunch.” Many students are also concerned about the losing potential income for their own clubs, since many clubs on campus were funded by these milk tea fundraisers. “I understand why students aren’t allowed to fundraise using milk tea, but I think cutting it off entirely isn’t good for the school since so many groups at school rely on boba fundraisers to raise money,” said senior Amanda Liu, ASB member. Smaller clubs that relied on milk tea sales to fund their club activities are now left scrambling to find new fundraising methods, since they do not receive as many donations
as other clubs. “We depend pretty heavily on the fund of selling milk teas due to the lack of donation because badminton is not as big as football or basketball,” said senior Khoa Tran, secretary of the Badminton Club. “It’s really devastating because it was our main fundraising method but now they banned it. Not only is it harder for us to fundraise but it also affect others as well.” In response, ASB has advised clubs and teams to utilize alternative methods to gain alternative fundraising. “The best way to go about fundraisers is now going to be something around the idea of services,” said ASB mentor, Jeff Kakes. Although using students can sell services and merchandise during school hours, many club officials believe that inedible products are in less demand than selling food and drink like milk tea. “Students are more likely to buy the food or drinks we sell and less likely to buy our non-consumable merchandise,” said secretary of the Filipino Youth Organization, junior Chelsea Batalla.
I understand why students aren’t allowed to fundraise using milk tea, but I think cutting it off entirely isn’t good for the school since so many groups at school rely on boba fundraisers to raise money Amanda LIU
Past and successful service-based fundraiser have included the badminton team selling carnations during Valentines Day, and Choir promoting singing valentines for a specific fee. However, one downside to these services is that they are extremely seasonal services. Clubs can also make partnerships with local businesses like Chipotle and Pizza My Heart, which allocate a percentage of profit back to the clubs.
However, this type of fundraiser would require an application to be filled out on the business’s respective websites weeks prior to the actual fundraising date. The Fremont High School Music Department has benefitted from such food fundraisers reliant on profits from local businesses in the past, and as of this year, the Speech and Debate team has followed suit. Robotics Club has also utilized opportunities outside of school to fundraise. Although selling milk tea during school hours was not the Robotics Club’s main source of money, profit from sales helped pad their budget further. Clubs have also found success through outreach in the community to gain donations. “We just go to a library to do a demonstration, or flea market or some kind of event going on in the community, set up a booth and talk about our team and people oftentimes give donations,” said junior Marc Corfmat, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations of the Fremont Robotics Team. Other clubs are also looking towards parental and community support to fund their club by setting up parent donation sites. “We’re stressing parent donations and we have a new Facebook page for Speech and Debate parent boosters, where parents can donate money,” said Yu. “We’re also working with a donor who is able to provide our school with a lot of the funding that we need for registering for tournaments.” Although finding alternative methods to fundraise food-free might be an initial challenge for clubs, there are many different opportunities for school clubs to fundraise past campus grounds. Even though the implementation of these food policies makes fundraising for clubs a challenge, this will hopefully lead students to eat healthier in the future. “We want everyone to be happy and healthy,” said Bechara. If clubs are able to find successful means to fundraise without food sales, then the school has successfully achieved their goal of promoting healthier diets for students.