When you are in the middle of class and you’re starving, which Paideia quick snack does your mind go to? Yay Cafe and the vending machines are Paideia students’ most prominent options for snacks on campus. Yay Cafe has been here for four years, and in contrast, vending machines have been at Paideia since the high school’s creation.
The vending machines are a reliable source of food, consisting of different candies, chocolates, chips, drinks and more. Recently, there have been a number of instances of the vending machines breaking down without any signs of change. According to Stacey Winston, principal of the high school, “We used to maintain them ourselves, and now we have moved to a vendor, so whenever it breaks we report to them.” Luckily, at the start of this school year the vending machines were completely replaced because, “The old ones were broken,” according to Winston.
Yay Cafe includes packaged meals like caesar salad, hummus snacks, chips and frozen sweet treats. The cafe includes a key pad where students log-on as a guest or through an account to purchase the food. Recently, the guest sign-in option at Yay Cafe has not been accessible, denying multiple students without accounts access to the treats.
Now, while they are both generally good options for students who want a quick snack, everybody has to have a favorite.
According to a recent poll conducted by The Forum, 61 students said they would choose the vending machines over Yay Cafe, which only received 14 votes. “Yay Cafe is way too far,” says Lauren Ferguson ’29. Yay Cafe is located in Oakdale Hall, while vending machines are located in the High School Building.
“Vending machines are better because they are more accessible and have better food because it’s better for snacks,” says Georgia Grimm ’29. “And Yay Cafe is never open.”
Though the vending machines obviously won students’ favor, there is a lot more work that has to be done behind the scenes. Tiffany Brunner, administrative assistant in the high school, says “because of the new vending machines I usually have to fix the vending machine six to eight times a day.”
Both options have their ups and downs, but at what cost? The vending machines are always breaking down no matter how much they are fixed by Tiffany or mechanics, and Yay Cafe is extremely expensive and limited to a small number of people. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you’re craving, because if you really think about it, they are both pretty bad.
