4/24/2017 Come here often? | Aimee Wester

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Come here often?

HEAD: Come here often?

WEB BLURB: Despite most having meals plans as part of their tuition, many HU students report eating fast food on a regularbasis. Over twenty different chains were named in a survey done through the Coffey Break as off-campus establishmentsfrequented by students. Friend groups and staff alike turn to fast food chains to add cheap, convenient variety to their diets.

By Aimee Wester

MASON BOWEN: [music fades in] This past year, based on students’ requests, Huntington University’s Student GovernmentAssociation successfully advocated for a change in dining services. The quality and variety of food served at HU is often a point ofdebate among students. But even with the change from Sodexo to Chartwells, HU still turns to off-campus restaurants, likeMcDonald’s and Taco Bell, as a supplement to their prepaid diets. So why do we search for food beyond our meal plans? AimeeWester has the story. [music fades out]

AIMEE WESTER: It was Friday night, and senior graphic design major Larkayla Mosley sat with a group of ten of her friends inthe Habecker Dining Commons. [dining sounds fade in] As they chatted with each other, an array of plates lay before them, half-finished and abandoned.

LARKAYLA MOSLEY: [dining sounds] This was not enough dinner, so I’m probably going to go to McDonald’s later.

WESTER: [dining sounds] Mosley says she has a problem finding food on campus that is satisfying in taste and quantity. Tomake up for this disparity, she often eats fast food as a second dinner.

MOSLEY: [dining sounds] Very rarely do I go a day without eating two dinners. Most of the time I leave the DC feeling veryunderwhelmed, and then I can’t even look forward to going to the HUB, so I often times go to McDonald’s – sometimes Taco Bell.

WESTER: [dining sounds] Mosley is not the only student who has made multiple, off-campus meals a part of their regular diet. Iconducted an online survey through the Coffey Break, and 53 HU students reported eating at about 20 different fast food locationson a regular basis. The most popular chains were Taco Bell and McDonald’s. Senior ministry major Logan Presnell is among agroup of friends that goes to the McDonald’s on Home Street on a consistent basis, even after eating meals on campus. The fastfood chain has been serving as a supplement to their meal plans during their undergraduate careers, and he says it’s in partbecause of their flexible hours.

LOGAN PRESNELL: [dining sounds] I would say we each spend about a hundred dollars at McDonald’s in a year. In a year,definitely. Oh yeah, because we go –  it’s like McDonald’s is the only place in Huntington. So on Thursday nights, they’re open allnight so you can go at like 3 a.m. And it’s a really good place to study. And on the weekends they’re open 24/7, so that’s like, whenwe’re hanging out at 2 a.m., it’s the only place to like actually go to and like be together.

WESTER: [dining sounds] Mosley and Presnell are a part of a group of ten friends who eat out together often. Senior psychologymajor Samuel Barrett, who is also a member of the same friend group, says the flexible hours of the Huntington McDonald’s is anecessity for those with irregular eating schedules. But he spends a lot of pocket money to keep up his lifestyle.

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SAMUEL BARRETT: [dining sounds] Too much! Like per month? Well, I have to go there before work on Tuesdays and Thursdayscause my fridge stopped working, and so I don’t have food in there. And I don’t get a lunch break at work. So it’s like I can’t goanywhere else cause I leave at 10:15, and there’s nowhere to eat on campus during that time. So in a month, I would say…

SARAH CHURCH: [from the background, dining sounds] 40 dollars.

BARRETT: [dining sounds] No, like 20 dollars.

WESTER: [dining sounds] And he’s not alone. My survey showed that the participants ate out at an average of two or three timesa week, making fast food like McDonald’s an integral part of the HU student diet and culture. During my investigation,sophomore film major Brianna Datta and junior fine arts major Jeanie Miller were spotted meeting at the McDonald’s on HomeStreet. The two had been able to spend two dollars or less on their meeting.

OUT AND ABOUT: Brianna Datta, sophomore film major, and Jeanie Miller, junior fine arts major, enjoy a conversation over ameal at McDonald’s on Home Street. Each meal pictured costs about two dollars. (Photo by Aimee Wester)

BRIANNA DATTA: [dining sounds] It’s not like the epitome of hang-out spots, but I would rather hang out at a coffee shop, butMcDonald’s is like… okay.

WESTER: [dining sounds] Barrett and Presnell both like several things about eating at McDonald’s: it’s close to campus, there’slots of choices, it’s cheap, and they offer seasonal promotions.

BARRETT: [dining sounds] Well it’s cheap, and their app is great. They give a lot of discounts on there. I think we go there a lotmore often this semester, this year since we started using the app. At least I know me and Logan for sure. [“Ah” in background]And then the hours. They’re open past 11:30, unlike the HUB, so… And all-day breakfast. The McGriddles, specifically. They’ve gotthe new Chicken McGriddle now, so… We usually – oh, Shamrock Shakes! We usually go, I would say after 11:30 at night whenyou can’t eat on campus anymore. And then I think they close at 1 during the week, so somewhere in that little bit.

PRESNELL: [dining sounds] So McDonald’s has this app now, so last night, Sam and I downloaded it in the fall, and it hascoupons. There’s daily coupons, there’s monthly coupons, but they’re different every day sometimes. And there’s really good

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deals. Like last night, you could get a free medium shake with any purchase. So like Eric (Baker) bought a sixty-nine cent cookieand got a free medium shake. So I was like, ‘Guys, think about how much money we would have saved if this app were here likethree years ago because we go to McDonald’s *laughs* way too often.’

BARRETT: [dining sounds] Yeah I wish I didn’t spend any money there. *laughs*

WESTER: McDonald’s on Home Street declined to comment. Shift leader at the Taco Bell on Jefferson Street, Jennifer Hartley, saysthat HU students make up a large portion of their customer demographic.

JENNIFER HARTLEY: [restaurant sounds] Late nights, usually about forty percent are students. We stay open later in drive-thrufor the students.

WESTER: [dining sounds] And though Taco Bell does not offer student discounts or special offers like the McDonald’s app, Hartleysays there’s a simple explanation for why college students eat their fast food all the time.

HARTLEY: [restaurant sounds] Why Taco Bell? It’s cheap and delicious.

WESTER: [dining sounds] Resident director of Hardy Hall, Danielle Shafer, personally introduces her students to the world of fastfood.  She and her staff take first-year students on a walk to the McDonald’s on Home Street every year on move-in weekend. Atmidnight on the first night at school, a group of about 30 new Hardy Hall residents trek from their building to the fast food chainto share a meal together [dining sounds fade out].

DANIELLE SHAFER: Years ago, when I was trying to think about something – Actually, what inspired it was Livingston Hall has atradition where they go to Pizza Hut –  the night that first-year students arrive. And I thought, “Oh, that’s kind of a cool tradition,something to look forward to. What could we do that doesn’t require finding lots of drivers and working out all the carpooling?Like where could we walk?’

WESTER: So McDonald’s felt like the only option.

SHAFER: It doesn’t require that you cross the highway. It doesn’t require that you cross any busy streets. So that’s what inspiredit. A place that you can walk to, a place that is inexpensive. People can buy an ice cream cone for a dollar or buy a value meal forfive dollars. Whatever they prefer. And just a chance for women to spend time together their first night here.

WESTER: But is eating fast food habitually [dining sounds fade in] worth the extra money?

BARRETT: [dining sounds] *laughs* Probably isn’t really, but it’s fun. I like going there because it’s off campus too, so it’s fun tolike, kind of, even if it’s only a half a mile off campus to go over there and hang out with friends I guess.

SHAFER: I mean certainly I think you can eat much healthier in the Dining Commons than you can at McDonald’s. There aremore healthy options, but I know not always the options we are looking for, maybe. But I anticipate if people are eating burgersand French fries multiple times a week from McDonald’s [music fades out], it is probably not doing great things for their healthand well-being.

WESTER: Reporting for Forester Radio, this is Aimee Wester. [music fades out]

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Kevin Miller April 24, 2017 at 5:30 pm Edit

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4/24/2017 Come here often? | Aimee Wester

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This is approved for submission to the station manager at Forester Radio. Kevin

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