Early during this past fall semester, I had to stay after my usual campus departure time of noon for a monthly honors program meeting. I needed to grab something for lunch before heading on out to my meeting, so I walked over to the student center and down into the dining hall where the Subway was. To my surprise, I reached the bottom of the stairs when I noticed the person that swiped our claw cards to access the dining hall was in the way of accessing Subway. As I walked a bit closer, I realized that the area where the Subway stood had been replaced by a dessert bar in which was part of the dining hall. Seeing this, I turned around and wondered why GGC had removed Subway altogether since it was a popular place on campus to grab lunch. If you were to arrive between eleven and noon, one would risk being late to class due to the long line of students and professors alike waiting for a sub.

I was rather upset that GGC did not decide to relocate Subway instead of removing it. Due to a lot of new students arriving on campus this year, the school decided to expand its dining hall to its full extent, occupying the entire dining area that was once shared with Subway. I had no problem with the renovation of the dining hall, I liked that they were expanding its food options. What my main concern was that now with Subway being gone, there was no longer a place where its main food choices were healthy on campus. In addition to the expanded dining hall, the school opened a Moe's in the A Building dining area, next to Chick-fil-A and Panda Express. These three food options aren't the healthiest, especially when research has been backed time over time that the healthier we college students eat, the better we are able to concentrate and are less depressed over the stressful life of being a college student, which for many of us includes working part/full time on top of extracurricular activities.

There are a variety of food options not too far from campus, including a Subway. But what about those who live on-campus and do not have a car? Or in my case and the majority of the GGC student body, the commuters who do not want to lose their parking space? My first class is at 8 a.m., so luckily I am always able to find a good parking space in the A lot, and nearly every day there is at least one car trying to obtain my parking space as I am leaving campus. In order to obtain a healthy lunch, I now have to leave campus and lose my parking space, causing me to park somewhere much farther in the event that I need to return afterward.

With Subway being gone, all is left is the dining hall, which has a very limited sandwich and salad bar, Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, Einstein Bros and Moe's, in which all have a very limited healthy selection. Even though they all offer grilled chicken, grilled chicken shouldn't be the only healthy option on campus. Compared to the other food options at GGC, Subway is the only place where you can obtain a custom sandwich in which you add as many varieties of meat, vegetables, and condiments as one likes. For only $6, which is cheaper than most of the meals at the other locations, you can obtain a six-inch sub, a bag of chips, and a drink.

I really do hope that GGC considers bringing back Subway on campus. This will ensure that its students have access to a place where one can eat healthier food options than what is currently available and make sure that we obtain better grades overall by eating more nutrient-rich foods.