Student Body President Jared Scott cut the ribbon for a new library mainstay on April 8, allowing students to have on-campus access to health products.

The first floor of the Newton Gresham Library now holds the KatHealth vending machine, full of medications and sexual wellness items. The vending machine is the final result of a joint collaboration between the Health Center and the Student Government Association over the past two years.

“We at the Health Center years ago started talking about the concept of being able to offer over-the-counter health products in various locations across campus outside of the Health Center hours because we’re just open during the week, Monday through Friday,” said Erica Bumpers, Vice President of Heath and Wellbeing. “We wanted to be able to offer a wide variety of things.”

The library was chosen due to its accessibility for students on campus.

“Sometimes students don’t want to go all the way to the health center,” Scott said. “We wanted to make it accessible for students who are on campus.”

Scott has been involved in the entire process of the vending machine, from his time serving as Vice President, to his current presidential term. It is one of the last things he will accomplish before his term ends. 

The vending machine is card only; it takes credit, debit, Apple Pay and Bearkat One Cards. However, students cannot use Bearkat Bucks for the machine, as it will only accept Bearkat One Cards as a debit card or bank card, according to Bumpers.