Second Annual Drinking Fountain Awards

Liam Boris, Social Media Manager

This is the news that matters: an update on which drinking fountains of the school meet most students’ needs. Last April, Breezes published an article ranking each of the water fountains the school offers against one another. This year, the newspaper wished to not only update, but also to involve more student input to acquire more accurate results. Here is the evidence from all categories.

The online Google survey totaled 106 responses, split nearly evenly between underclassmen and upperclassmen. This variety helps give perspective from all different age and experience levels.

Next, students were asked about which is the most important aspect of any given drinking fountain. An astounding 44.3% felt the taste was most important, and the runner-up category, temperature, won 36.8% of the vote. This data is compelling, as each of these aspects impact one another, and if either is not perfect to the consumer’s preference, it can ruin the drinking fountain experience. These two features combined have a total of 81.1% of most importance to consumers in Minnetonka High School.

The question of most controversy was, of course, which drinking fountain in MHS is most preferable. The nature of this question sparks controversy due to the state-required number of drinking fountains within the school. The original survey had only 18 options, but six responses wrote they preferred no drinking fountain at MHS. Despite the total of 24 options, the music hallway fountain had an astounding 18.9% approval rating, or otherwise 20 student votes, the largest amount for any given fountain. This is significant because, had each section gotten an equal amount of votes, each fountain should have received only 4.4%. A common trait across all responses say the Music Hallway is ideal because it has cold water, cleanliness on the whole, and perfect pressure. It seems as though the Music Hallway fountain is the Beyonce of water fountains.

Besides the Music Hallways, a hidden favorite within the school is the fountain next to classroom 2000. A survey participant prefers this due to its button’s difference from most and its temperature.

Raelin Karstens, ‘18, states “though its appearance is not perfect, the drinking fountain […] is extremely cold.”

A different member of the Senior class even wrote a nine sentence paragraph of praise saying they “would go as far as to say this fountain has changed [their] life” and have “received several tardies by sprinting […] [to their] fountain of youth.”

Though the school does not feel this way, I personally agree with all three of these students and deem this the runner-up next to the Music Hallway.

Minnetonka Breezes would like to thank the student body, and you, the reader, for participating in the 2nd Annual Drinking Fountain Awards. We hope to see you again in April 2019 for the 3rd annual award ceremony.