Many high schoolers dream of striking it big and making bank while still juggling the pressures of classes, homework and a social life. For Andrew Hom, his unconventional way of earning some extra cash during school garnered him respect and appreciation from his fellow peers.

Hom, a senior band member, has earned a sort of black market fame over the past two years as the guy who sells sodas from his backpack.

It didn’t take long for his peers to anoint him the moniker of “Soda Guy”; he would walk table-to-table reciting a script of the sodas he sold almost like an auctioneer, convincing students to purchase a soda from him for only a dollar.

“I started end of sophomore year by bringing sodas in my band bag,” Hom said.

Hom has expanded his operation to include others in on his endeavors. Freshman Jaidyn Myres, carried Hom’s bag full of sodas throughout the day and received some extra compensation for it. Myres said, “[him selling soda] is good for the students but he’s not really supposed to do it.”

Though selling sodas on school property is not banned in the student handbook, it is against a federal law. Soda is listed as a Food of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNV) by the federal government and is restricted from being sold to students on school campuses.

According to the Chandler Unified School District’s Nutrition website, “the goal [of the district wellness policy] is to create a school environment that includes healthy food choices and encourages physical activity as well as other wellness activities.” Obviously the sale of soda violates this simple goal, not to mention Hom using the sale for his own benefit violates the school policy of approved vendors.

Principal Dan Serrano says, “there’s all kinds of regulations on schools that have to be followed.”

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People who do desire to sell things on school campuses have to go through a process to get approved, and those approved venders have to conduct business according to school rules and federal guidelines.

Since sodas are listed as a FMNV, even if “Soda Guy” was an approved vendor, the sale of sodas would be against the federal guidelines. Referring to Hom specifically, Serrano states, “I give him credit because he started it last year and brought it back this year.”

Being a “businessman” in high school to make a little cash is a bold move, and a creative adventure but, as Serrano sums up, “[school] isn’t a place for people to conduct business.”