I want more milk.  Simple as that.  We teens are young, developing adults who need Vitamin D to allow us to continue growing.

In kindergarten, when we are less than 60 pounds, we as students were served a lunch meal along with a half pint carton of milk.  As over a decade goes by, we are served the same portions: a single carton of milk.  Now, doesn’t this seem just a tad bit absurd?

When I was a child, I loved food and even more, milk.  At dinner, I couldn’t get enough. I would beg my mom for just one more slice of pizza, or just a little bit more milk, because I’d always gulp it down as soon as I got it.  I didn’t understand why my dad got so much more than me, it was unfair.  But, my mom would always say that I don’t get as much as my dad because he was bigger than me, and that when I got bigger I would get just as much as he did. Well, I am now just as big as my dad is, he is only two inches and 20 pounds more than me, yet I am not served the correct proportions when I am at school, five days a week.

“Honestly, I think this is ridiculous that we only get one carton of milk.  We’re bigger than we were in kindergarten, yet we still get the same amount! We eat more than we did before; therefore, we need more to drink too.  I don’t know if it’s money that schools are worried about or what, but they really need to figure something out because it’s ridiculous that we get the same amount to drink as we did 12 years ago in kindergarten,” says Howell High School senior, Kaitlyn Allison.

Not only do we need milk to help us grow, but we also need it to maintain our health, to keep our bones strong.

As a child, I broke my first bone when I was eight-years-old by slipping off my bunk-bed ladder. After that, I broke 15 more bones before I turned 17. Multiple doctors repeatedly told me to drink milk continuously every day to build up the strength of my bones.

“Calcium is a mineral that the body needs for numerous functions, including building and maintaining bones and teeth, blood clotting, the transmission of nerve impulses, and the regulation of the heart’s rhythm. Ninety-nine percent of the calcium in the human body is stored in the bones and teeth. The remaining one percent is found in the blood and other tissues,” states the Harvard School of Public Health.

We are in school for over seven hours a day, where some of us, including me, eat breakfast and lunch, receiving nothing more than a half pint of milk at each meal.  How on earth are we supposed to maintain our health and bone structure if we can’t receive our mineral necessities at the one place that we are at five days of the week?

One solution is that administration could place a vending machine that sells milk products rather than sugary sodas. Fat-free milk, low-fat milk, chocolate milk, and even almond milk provide more nutrients than what is currently offered.

Milk is a large carrier of calcium, which is what our bodies need according to the Harvard School of Public Health.  Therefore, growing children should have access to as much calcium (milk) as they want.  We shouldn’t be restricted from keeping our bodies healthy and strong.