Courtesy of Sanjiv Sinha
Soaham Sinha
Something was missing from the cafeteria at Soaham Sinha’s school: chocolate milk. So last school year, he and his classmate Henry Mudd set out to bring it back to Burlingame Intermediate School in California. The pair surveyed more than 800 students at their school. They found that 74 percent of kids didn’t drink plain milk at lunch. But 68 percent did drink chocolate milk when it was offered a few years ago.
Soaham and Henry started a petition to get chocolate milk back into their school cafeteria. In less than four days, more than 400 students signed it. Then, in April 2025, Soaham and Henry gave a presentation to their district’s school board. They pointed out that kids might not get enough of some important nutrients if they don’t drink milk.
Their plan worked. Last May, the school began serving chocolate milk two days a week.
“I’m proud that we were able to turn student voices into real change,” says Soaham, who is now in eighth grade.
Though most school districts in the U.S. have flavored milk on their menus, others offer only plain milk or water. Many people argue that those other drink options are better for kids than chocolate and strawberry milk.
But as Soaham found, flavored milk has the same key nutrients as plain milk. And if kids like only flavored milk, he says, that’s better than no milk at all.