Let me be the first in a long line of many to say that I love the vending machines. They are a glowing beacon of light and hope in the middle of an otherwise dim school day. Half of my energy depends on whether or not I get my daily muffin fix alone.

But despite my utter adoration and the near worship I feel in the face of one of these overly large, metal containers of prepackaged snack food, I must confess that even I occasionally tire of the endlessly monotonous supply of sweets available for my snacking pleasure.

Feel free to call me insane or accuse Halloween of meddling with my sweet tooth, but in recent years, it feels like the choices for healthy food available to the average RHS student (or, at least, those of us lacking the bravery to use DoorDash and Grubhub) has been stealthily decreasing. This is coming from somebody who’s as likely to choose a tomato over a candy bar as she is to take up waterboarding.

So please, take a moment to rediscover the eighth wonder of the world: the disappearing salad bar/fruit cart. While ‘healthy’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind when I think back to my middle school days, my school had a distinct advantage in this category over RHS, all due to that cart.

Now that one of my only sources of in-school nutrition has faded into my middle school past, I haven’t been able to find anything that would serve as a viable replacement for the easy accessibility of that cart.

Of course, adding healthier foods to the vending machines could easily take care of that problem and cover a wider palate of tastes, all at the same time. Even though I, of all people, can understand how tempting it is to have a bottle of Gatorade and a bag of chips and air stuffed into each machine (with only minor chemically induced variations in flavor) a little bit of healthier variety can go a long way.

More importantly, a minor change in snacks doesn’t require the presence of a farmer’s market. It can be something as small as replacing the overpriced bagels with a healthy granola bar or a bag of nuts.

While the argument stands that there are veggie wraps and a few other similarly healthy options available in the cafeteria, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be even more easily accessible as food items in the vending machines. Besides, who has the energy or time to walk over to our relatively out-of-the-way cafeteria and wait in a line that takes up a third of lunch when two vending machines are so conveniently located right in Senior Square?

Now, don’t mistake my irritation as a complete rejection of the snack foods the vending machines have to offer — I haven’t been a high schooler long enough to hit that peak level of insanity just yet. Instead, consider the idea of a few healthier snack options within the vending machines a good deterrent for the long lines of students that form every lunch break, as well as a break from the constant nagging of your dentist.