A group of students at PV has begun a new movement this year to bring strawberry milk back to the cafeteria.
For years at PV, the student’s lunches offered have been constantly changing. The district has added and removed a multitude of items along the way in an effort to make the cafeteria a healthier and more allergy-friendly environment.
Food such as peanut butter bars and sun chips are no longer found in the lunchroom. Due to the district’s unknown change in lunch items, the modifications and replacements of certain items have left many students upset.
This movement, called the strawberry milk initiative, was formed in response to the repeated changes. It all began when a group of students at lunch were chatting and realized that after a new bell dismissal system was put in place, they no longer remembered the sound of the old bell that used to dismiss students from class.
They continued to talk about the many things they missed at PV and decided they wanted to make a change.
Sophomore Darsh Balani, one of the founding members of the group, has an especially strong opinion: “we realized we had forgotten about our favorite childhood drink: strawberry milk.”
To Balani and the rest of the Strawberry Milk Initiative group, the movement is about more than just the strawberry milk. “Ever since that moment, we have been fighting for the rights of students, mainly our right to strawberry milk.”
Part of the reason Balani and his friends chose to create this initiative was the humor. They thought it would be enjoyable to try to get the student body motivated for a common purpose.
Nabeel Affarka, one of the supporters of the movement, shared his take on the humor. “I think it is funny how we can create all this fuss about a minor inconvenience,” he said. He wants to make it clear, however, that they are still serious about their goal.
SMI [Strawberry Milk Initiative] is currently selling shirts to raise awareness of their cause. None of the students plan to make a profit off this sale, but rather plan to use it to buy advertisements and create more awareness. They expressed interest in posters, newspaper ads, and even bringing strawberry milk to lunch to hand out to students.
Hopefully, the SMI will help bring a positive change to the PV cafeteria and at the least create more transparency between the administration and the student body regarding future changes in the school.
