By Jeanni Ritchie

Today we celebrate National Chocolate Day and what better way to present this column than with a bunch of chocolate experts: middle school students!

Eighth grade students in Ms. Walker’s 1st Period English Class at Brame Middle School in Alexandria dove into the W- words of #NationalChocolateDay.

What? National Chocolate Day celebrates all things chocolate, the flavor Americans have chosen as its favorite.

When? Celebrated on October 28, chocolate itself has been around for 3000 years.

Why? We celebrate chocolate because it is amazing. An impromptu poll revealed all students in Ms. Walker’s class loved chocolate, though opinions differed when it came to adding fruit or nuts to the cacao concoction.

They also noted the importance of the difference kinds of chocolate.

“There’s dark chocolate, milk, white, semi-sweet,” Nagla Abdeljazber explained. Dark was her favorite.

Ways to celebrate: Technically not a typical W interrogative question, the class was nothing if not creative. Their ideas for celebrating the day were intriguing.

“You could make a giant table of chocolate desserts,” Collin Carrazzo suggested.

“You could BE chocolate,” Derrick Carley continued.

“Wait, what?” I’d asked. “How can you BE chocolate?”

“Well, you are what you eat!” Carley replied. I’d forgotten middle school logic!

Whether you bake a batch, stop by your favorite confectionery, pick up a sweet treat at the grocery store, or as student Adam Ivey suggests, cover yourself completely in chocolate, today is the day to celebrate all things CHOCOLATE!

Jeanni Ritchie is a contributing journalist and former middle school teacher from Central Louisiana. She can be reached at jeanniritchie54@gmail.com.