Students, especially teenagers, have never been known for their healthy eating habits; stuff like hot pockets, pizza, Red Bulls, and Monster Energy drinks are common consumption items for a high schooler. Interviewing some students shows just how much we as an age group tend to tilt towards just one side. Between unhealthy options, healthy, to ‘why would you even eat that?’, we just sort of fall into eating whatever we put our eyes on. When asked whether they’d rather drink a Red Bull, Monster Energy, or Morgan’s coffee, sophomore Katie Horkley responded with a very specific drink on the energy drink spectrum.
“It’s not Red Bull, it’s Lotus, which is usually a lot sweeter than Red Bull, cause Red Bull almost kinda tastes like battery acid,” said Horkley. “Lotus drinks are plant based, and you don’t crash like you typically would with your preferred coffee or monster.”
Most of the people interviewed for this article leaned towards quick and easy options. A hot pocket is only two minutes in the microwave, you can easily buy a pizza hot from Dominos or you could get a bake at home from Papa Murphy’s; sushi’s a bit more hard to get, you can either go to a store like Haggen and buy the premade ones — best to get on Wednesdays — or you can go to a restaurant; Monsters and Red Bull are easy, you just go to the store, same with any sort of Morgan’s coffee, you just have to go to their stand and wait. Tea is pretty easy too, you just boil some water, depending on the type, and let it steep for approximately 3 minutes, or you can go get a bottle of tea, like Pure Leaf or Gold Peak. Ice cream and Hot Cheetos are easy to buy at stores. The most important thing in some opinions is who likes what with these specific foods, sushi, or pizza? Chicken tenders or hot pockets? Almost everyone polled chose to go towards sushi.
However, not everyone has a preference towards sushi. One student, when given the option, decided on the one food no one else had: more specifically, a hot pocket.
“It really doesn’t matter as long as it tastes like [a] hot pocket,” said freshman Keilyn Taylor.
Brett Anderson, social studies teacher, chose pizza, specifically a pepperoni, mushroom, black olive pizza. Anderson and Drew Aungst, an English teacher, both wholeheartedly agreed that strawberry ice cream is superior, while on the opposite side of things Karin Ovenell-Carter, the FCCLA Advisor, chose sushi because it’s fast and easy, and it’s cheap. Although she does love salty chips, if she could switch the snacks with anything, her jalapeño chips would be switched out with a quarter cup of almonds.
All the teachers interviewed leaned heavily towards coffee. Some of them have coffee pots and electric kettles in their rooms, so they can stay caffeinated all day.
Out of all the teachers talked to, Drew Aungst is the only one who preferred a Red Bull (blueberry) over coffee, while Ovenell-Carter and Anderson both preferred coffee themselves.
“I like black drip with some half-and-half, but if I’m gonna go crazy, I like a vanilla latte,” said Andersen, who currently teaches World History.
Ms. Ovenell-Carter prefers her coffee fresh ground, and if she just so happens to be out, she prefers straight espresso shots. None of the students chose coffee, only Red Bulls and Monsters, so there’s nothing to draw from that; the teachers, on the other hand, have noticeable caffeine addictions.
The last words of our beloved Ovenell-Carter very passionately demanded everyone to drop the junk food and “cook from scratch, people!”