During the winter months, hot chocolate is often a sought-after beverage, and Niles West has created traditional “Hot Chocolate with the Principal,” centered around this sweet treat.

In the winter months, hot chocolate is a great selling point for clubs looking to do fundraisers, but “Hot Chocolate with the Principal,” takes away that opportunity. Of course, everyone’s going to choose to get free hot chocolate rather than pay a dollar or two for it. Unfortunately, this fun tradition hurts Niles’s West’s community, but at what cost?

Students also spill their drinks walking up and down the stairs, which increases the likelihood of falling or getting your shoes sticky. It’s also probably a headache for the cleaning staff to find, mop up and do their regular duties.

This year Niles West created a new custom of changing the location of the hot chocolate table every week. The new practice crowds up the hallways, which makes students late and yet half of the people standing in “line” (which is barely a line) don’t even get hot chocolate. Another issue with this ritual is that most of these places are near entrances so students and staff entering the building have to deal with rambunctious crowds first thing in the morning. It also makes it so confusing for people who want hot chocolate to get it because they have not only figured out the new location but also run over there before anyone else does.

Since hot chocolate is such a popular drink every club is offering it to all their members. Spoiler alert, after you drink the same thing over and over again, it gets old. It is the responsibility of the school to change up their snacks because they can’t expect all of Niles West’s activities to change their winter staple.

Some alternatives to hot chocolate are baked goods like donuts, muffins, fritters and other morning foods. The beauty of having food instead of drinks is that no one needs to prepare it which saves staff members more time and causes less of a mess. Another change could be that the hot chocolate would be during lunch periods and study halls, which will allow more students to get hot chocolate, keep things more organized, and give staff a break between periods. I understand that the purpose of having it all at once is because faculty can’t take their whole day off, but if lunch periods and study halls were considered there would need to be a rotation. If that didn’t always work there could be student volunteers who help out.

I think that hot chocolate with the principal is a pretty good tradition but I think that there are a few valid critiques and solutions to make the event better. The next and last hot chocolate with the principal is this Friday, Dec. 15.