
You know that story. The story where one person or a few people do something out of line and then everyone gets punished or reprimanded. Sadly, this has proven to be a real tragedy again at Doherty.
Here at Doherty, the Student Council was selling hot chocolate on Fridays. This hot cocoa bar was run by representatives at all lunches in the cafeteria. The menu included “regular” hot chocolate—simple chocolate mix and boiling water, and a “deluxe” hot chocolate that included the drink with caramel, marshmallows, and whipped cream. These tasty drinks were being sold for one and two dollars respectively.
On January 10, 2025, Student Council representatives were informed that the hot cocoa is no longer in service.
For what? Students were charged with spilling their drinks in the school after they had purchased them at lunch. A few minor inconveniences called for what seems like immediate action. Because of a few people spilling the drinks in the halls or classrooms, everyone in Doherty has been punished.
Tell me, is this actually fair? The Student Council was selling this hot chocolate to raise money for events, activities, and people in the school. However, the school quickly took away the right to continue selling the beverages on Fridays. Due to what could have been taken care of in a different way, the Student Council must find new ways to fundraise.
Now what? Well, there could be different ways to fix this situation. For instance, having an administrator monitor who is leaving the cafeteria with hot chocolate. Another useful mechanism could have been having a Google Form sent out to the student body to order hot chocolate. This Google Form would have customers write their name, lunch period, and what they are ordering. This way Student Council representatives can have the hot chocolate ready beforehand so that students could just give the money to them and pick up their beverage. A third option could be getting different cups to serve the hot chocolate. Currently, the hot chocolate is served in styrofoam cups. Instead of serving them in this, hot chocolate could be served in cups with a lid. This way, it is much harder to spill your drink unless you are actively trying to dump out the contents.
This shameful goodbye to the chocolatey beverage definitely shouldn’t have gone down in such a dirty way.