POULSBO — Maybe it was the Britney Spears TV commercials, or changing student tastes.
For many reasons, after five years of Coke, the ASB at North Kitsap High School decided to go in another direction, and replaced the soda machines throughout the high school with Pepsi products.
While the change made for two days of caffeine-deprived students — “We were ready for one day without soda; not two” said ASB advisor Sandi Weishaupt — it’s better in the long run, said school officials and students.
Coke’s five-year contract lapsed last month, and the ASB, which distributes funds from the machines to several after-school activities, decided to make a change.
“We decided we weren’t satisfied with Coke or their operations,” said ASB officer Jen Johnson.
Johnson and ASB advisor Weishaupt said the school wanted more recycling bins; better service; a more locally-run company; and a larger initial bonus.
Pepsi, Johnson said, offered all of that.
Pepsi promised more recycling bins, Johnson said, much like they have at Kingston Junior High; the company also offered a higher bonus, and is run out of Bremerton Bottling.
“We’re a small community, so we liked that,” Johnson said of the local flavor.
There are about 15 soda machines sprinkled around the campus, from outside the horticulture building to inside the boys’ locker room. Most of the machines disperse water as well as soda — in fact, Weishaupt said, water is the machines’ biggest seller.
And as much as parents don’t like the idea of offering so much sugar to students, Weishaupt said, the funds raised through the machines are important. The school makes a certain percentage from the sale of every can or bottle, and that money is distributed through ASB to athletics, FFA, the horticulture program, and other activities.
The money put into the machines, Weishaupt said, prevents the school from asking for it in other ways.
Many schools, she noted, ask for user fees to participate in athletics; the money raised in the soda machines has prevented that at North Kitsap.
“It’s the main reason kids don’t have to pay user fees,” she said.
Even so, the school cut back on the number of machines it has; the need just didn’t support the number of machines, Weishaupt said. Several machines, including the one by the auxiliary gym, were removed.
