Considering America's love of the French fry, it's no surprise that kids are getting bigger. The percentage of children and teenagers who are overweight has tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Center for Disease Control. One-third of overweight students are so heavy they will probably have serious health problems later in life. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher has declared our problem with our children’s weight an “Epidemic”. Our school districts in this country seem to just add to the problem. Its getting harder to find a nutritious lunch in school today, where many cafeterias are being turned into mall like food courts. Many schools across the country have also signed contracts with soft drink companies like Coke and Pepsi. The schools agree to install

soda machines and usually guarantee a set number of sales. In return, the soda companies give the schools some of the money that it collects. The money is needed and is used for extra curricular activities, teacher’s salaries or even books. This seems like a good deal on the surface, but some contracts with these soda companies require the school to sell as many fifty sodas per student per year. This would mean that out of the 9 soft drink machines at George Washington High School, they would have to sell 135,000 cans of soda for its 2700 students, per year. Recent studies by the United States Agriculture Department now link obesity to soft drink consumption. These studies show that student who drink soda instead of eating a healthy meal, eat more food later because they were not filled. So students are consuming more sugar and food than they would if they just ate a regular meal. In the defense of the soda companies, Coca Cola does offer water and juice in their vending machines in schools. George Washington High School has one vending machine that offers Gatorade and water.

Although our City does pass the USDA requirements for school lunches, there is plenty of room for improvement. Many school districts have instituted soda bans, such as LA school district, which only

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