The smoothies that the student body enjoys during lunch are one of several items that the Action Corner is selling in an attempt to raise their profits. The new state-wide health policy that has increased its restrictions this year is hurting Action Corner's income. This is directly resulting in the loss of money returned to MHS as a gift and loss of donations to the Life Skills program.

"The new nutritional guidelines have put a serious limit on our options," said Action Corner supervisor Sarah Breyer. The policy provides limits on sugar content, fat content, calories and age group. Breyer said that popular items like pizza, giant muffins and subs can no longer be sold because of the calorie limitations.

"The law definitely changed everything," said senior manager Jenny Kim. As the accountant for the Action Corner this year, senior Erica Jarmer has noticed a significant decrease in income.

"It's unique to our school," said Jarmer. "We help the school out in a lot of ways and to see it not be as profitable as in past years is disappointing."

"Last year it affected snacks and beverages, the next stop at the beginning of this year were entrees," said Breyer. Entrees must be less than 450 calories and have at the most 36 percent of fat. This is why the pizza has changed from something like Primetime Pizza, to the circular dishes. If pizza like Primetime is to be sold at MHS it must be prepackaged and the customer may buy one at a time.  

"I think we've had to adapt to a lot of things," said Kim.

On top of the state-wide bill, there is a school wide policy that doesn't allow any carbonated soda to be sold. Action Corner found that part of the policy out when they experimented with trying to sell Coke Zero, which made it through all the restrictions that the state-wide law put in place.

"What we sell [isn't] attracting [customers]," said junior morning manager Alfredo Martinez.

Another thing to which Action Corner has definitely had to adapt is how they can't sell during first lunch. Workers try to capitalize on the courtyard by selling pizzas during sunny days, but there is a limited number of nice days in Oregon.

"The people who have first lunch, they have no other option but to buy cafeteria food or go out and buy the same stuff [they'd be getting from Action Corner]," said Martinez.

"It is very frustrating, but it requires a level of creativity that is good for them," said Breyer.

The workers at Action Corner make it their task to find new and exciting items to sell to keep a foundation of customers. Breyer said that there is a lot of trial and error involved to find success. The new and healthier items they sell aren't going over as well as they'd like.

"We've been forced to sell quantity over quality and that's just something we're just going to adapt to," said Martinez.

Action Corner cleared out space at the beginning of the year and moved the t-shirts and sweatshirts that were usually sold there up to the Grizzly Zone. This move freed up space for smoothies to be made and forcookies to be baked, which Breyer said is the closest thing to a dessert that is sold in Action Corner.

Action Corner helps students attain the skills of marketing.

"It is an overall support of the school," said Breyer. Not only does Action Corner give gifts at the end of the year, they also play music during the morning and at lunches that the students like to hear. 

Although everyone involved in the student store looks back at the old days and wishes things hadn't changed, they realize that all the other schools are going through the same food restrictions.

"We're just lucky to [have been] successful for so long," said Breyer.