High school student’s protest strategy works

On Board Online • November 28, 2011

By Marc Humbert
Senior Writer

Dominic Daoust says that someday he might like to be president of the United States. Don’t bet against him.

After all, it took the Niagara Falls High School senior less than two days to execute a campaign that got chocolate milk back on the menu in his school’s cafeteria.

Daoust said it all began when he and some friends were grousing during lunch about the school district’s recent decision to ban chocolate milk.

“I said, ‘We can get it back,’” he recalled.

Brushing off the “Yeah, right” comments from his classmates, Daoust suggested they start a petition calling for the ban to be rescinded.

“The worst they can do is say no,” Daoust told his friends.

The next day, Daoust was circulating his petition. That night, he did research about chocolate milk, comparing its nutritional content to other beverages such as vitamin water and juices that were still available to students.

By the time Daoust’s father drove him to a school board meeting the following evening, the petition contained the signatures of about 30 school employees and almost 1,000 students.

Going into the meeting, Daoust said he felt good. “I am a cheerleader, so I’m in front of people all the time.”

Nonetheless, Daoust said that as it came closer to the public comment portion of the board meeting, “I felt the nerves coming on.”

His fellow students clapped rhythmically as he rose to address the board.

“Once I started speaking, it was like I was in a bubble,” he said.

Daoust told the board that chocolate milk had all the nutrients of white milk, and that while it had more sugar, it also had more iron. And, he informed the board that his fellow students were too often throwing cartons of regular milk away.

“A container of chocolate milk that a student drinks is more nutritious than a container of reduced-fat white milk that the student throws away,” he told the board.

Nutritionists do frown on chocolate milk, though.

Marlene Schwartz and Kathryn Henderson, two top officials at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, wrote earlier this year that “flavored milk is not the nutritional equivalent of unflavored milk. It is significantly higher in calories, sugar, and sodium, and usually contains artificial colors and flavors.” So unflavored milk “should remain the norm,” Schwartz and Henderson wrote in an article published by the Huffington Post.

Four days after the board meeting, Daoust received a letter from Niagara Falls Superintendent Cynthia Bianco, praising his effort that she said demonstrated drive, organization and determination.

“The removal of chocolate milk was due to an abundance of caution in safeguarding students’ health and an effort to provide only the healthiest choices at meals in the schools,” Bianco wrote. “However, Mr. Daoust, you have convinced me! I am satisfied that chocolate milk will not be the downfall of public health.

“And you, young man, may have a promising career ahead in community organizing or public service,” Bianco added.

The following Tuesday, low-fat chocolate milk was back on the menu.

Daoust said he hopes to attend the University of Buffalo next year and pursue a degree in business administration.

“Eventually, I hope to run for political office,” he said.

His lobbying skills made an impression on at least one school board member.

“As a retired educator, I was particularly happy with Mr. Daoust’s presentation,” Carmelette Rotella, the board president, told On Board. “I can’t help but be proud to be part of the district that educated this student.”

She said she left that meeting “feeling very good about this student’s work … and craving a glass of chocolate milk.”