This group of fourth-graders, led by their 9-year-old classmate, learned the power of protests, all in the name of chocolate milk.
The boy, Jordan Reed, and his classmates from the Sierra Vista K8 School in Vacaville, California staged a protest in regards to a 2020 decision to pull out chocolate milk from the lunch menus at schools throughout the district.
Plenty of students, including Reed, weren’t satisfied with the decision that the school officials brought.
Reed said that they used to have it, but then they just took it away.
Boy Organizes a School Protest to Bring Back Chocolate Milk on the Menu
Another student, a sixth-grader, Wesson Markowski, said how chocolate milk was very popular and students were lucky if they could get a spot for it since it would all be gone fast.
On a Friday, the 26 students from Jordan’s class joined together to try and bring back their favorite drink and it luckily worked.
According to the district chef and culinary manager, Richie Wilim, the school removed the beverage due to the high amount of sugar; however, they’re now planning to bring it back, although only once per week.
Jordan says he feels good about what they achieved and he’s happy that he brought back what they all wanted. The idea for the protest began when one of their teachers, Emily Doss, gave the kids an assignment.
The assignment was a Scholastic News article Should Schools Serve Flavored Milk?. It was about one fourth-grader from Missouri who petitioned to bring back strawberry milk on the menu in their school.
This influenced Jordan who went home and started to prep for a protest. He was creating chants like: “What do we want? Chocolate milk! When do we want it? Now!”
He also made several protest signs saying “we need it please” and “less regular, more chocolate”.
The following day, after Doss learned that the local reporters caught the protest, she said how she rallied her students to make additional signs and also inspired them with additional arguments for their case.
On the day of the protest, the students all left their class to protest in front of the school.
Successful Outcome of the Protest, Chocolate Milk Is Back on the Menu
Their protest paid off since the district’s director of student nutrition talked with the group and heard out their arguments.
According to Jordan, regular milk as the only option resulted in the students drinking less milk and producing higher waste. He also said that the students may be getting fewer of the necessary nutrients such as vitamin D and calcium.
The school officials were persuaded and agreed to a compromise.
This experience was more than about chocolate milk. Doss said it transformed from a review lesson to one big life lesson for the children.
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