"I just took some of my dad's cheese, sliced it up, and put it in the chapstick container," the fourth-grader explained.
A nine-year-old girl from Missouri won the internet's praise after executing an ingenious plan to tackle hunger pangs while in class. The resourceful youngster took her love for cheese to brilliant new heights by filling an empty lip balm tube with tiny circles of sharp cheddar so that she could nibble on it undetected while attending school. The child's clever mid-class snacking hack went viral on social media after her mother, Valerie Schremp Hahn, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, posted a photo of it on Twitter. "My 9-year-old daughter has taken an old lip balm tube and filled it with cheese so she can eat it in class," she wrote.
My 9-year-old daughter has taken an old lip balm tube and filled it with cheese so she can eat it in class. pic.twitter.com/YEAqZx2wnr
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) September 17, 2019
The youngster's genius creation almost instantly went viral on social media as it left Hahn's followers thoroughly impressed with the little girl's innovation. "Further confirmation that the future is female," wrote Twitter user @shelikesfacts. "Your daughter is living in 2079 and we are all still here in 2019," commented @notthegymnast. Meanwhile, one user suggested that Hahn's daughter take the whole idea a step further by picking up a few more empty tubes and making an entire meal out of it. "Shouldn't she fill one with summer sausage or a nice pepperoni?" tweeted @lauraapollo.
My coworker @nkling6: "You're like a pageant mom. But with cheese."
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) September 18, 2019
The official Twitter account of Dictionary.com also joined the discussion by dropping a little fact. "Balm: Anything that heals, soothes, or mitigates pain," they tweeted. Speaking to BuzzFeed News, the fourth-grader revealed that she got the idea for the pocket snack from YouTube. "I was just looking on YouTube because I was bored and I found this video and I decided to do it," the girl, whose mother asked that her name not be published, said. "I just took some of my dadβs cheese, sliced it up, and put it in the chapstick container."
Calm down, people calling me a cheese narc. They can bring snacks to class. I was sharing the funny story with her teacher. (They don't pay them enough!)
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) September 18, 2019
The idea was reportedly part of a compilation of back-to-school pranks about sneaking food into class from the DIY life hacks YouTube channel Troom Troom. Although in the video, an empty glue stick container is used to stuff the cheese into, since the Schremp Hahn household didn't have any empty glue stick tubes laying around, the young inventor made do with the next best thing. "I just found that, cleaned it out with some soap, and started filling it with cheese," she said, adding that she used sharp cheddar from Aldi's.
Also, last night our 12 yo made this, also from YouTube, with his dad. Sister was making cheese tubes and I was browsing my phone. π pic.twitter.com/L0NKqYxCgM
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) September 18, 2019
The young girl revealed that she took two of her "cheese stick chapsticks" to school and managed to sneak in a few licks and bites during breaks between standardized tests. "You can lick it and no one will know," she said, adding that her friends got a kick out of it. "At first I didn't tell them and I was like licking the, quote, 'cheese,' and then I told them it was cheese and they just started laughing so hard," she said. Meanwhile, Hahn revealed on Twitter that she'd informed her daughter's teacher about the cheese tubes. The young girl, however, proved to be quite adept at hiding the sticks as her teacher later informed Hahn that they didn't notice the two tubes of cheese during class.
Holiday postscript: @SargentoCheese sent us a bunch of lip balm tubes (and cheese) and we made a ton of lip balm to give to teachers and family. She gave them to her teachers today and said, βwhen you moisturize your lips, think of me.β ππ pic.twitter.com/aX6HmdQgSW
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) December 20, 2019
The school's principal was also impressed by the youngster's creativity and told Hahn that she would give her daughter a shoutout in the school's newsletter. "I was kind of surprised it took off, but people like cheese so, you know, maybe I shouldn't be surprised," said Hahn. Her young daughter shared similar sentiments. "I'm just impressed that anybody would, like, like this out of all things," the nine-year-old said, before adding that she understands why some people might be obsessed with the idea. "Cheese is amazing."
I think she got it off one of those weird crafty videos on YouTube. Still, I don't know if I should discourage her. I mean, it's standardized testing week.
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) September 18, 2019
Ha! Thanks. She got the idea off YouTube - and she is pretty darn smart and clever, so we have high hopes. π
β Valerie Schremp Hahn π° (@valeriehahn) September 18, 2019