POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. – When Hillgrove High School senior Catherine Jones was denied honey mustard, she decided enough was enough.

She had just ordered chicken nuggets and her preferred condiment had been banned. She was told she could choose from barbecue sauce or ketchup.

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“It’s the new rules,” she was told, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.

Jones decided fighting back against the federal rules championed by First Lady Michelle Obama would make for a good senior project.

Students are required find a mentor, write a research paper and create a visual aid.

Jones started by creating a petition against the rules, saying prices went up and quality went down, which she described as “so awful.”

The student then attended a Powder Springs City Council meeting, where she made her case and gave each council member a copy of the petition along with the signatures of students. She asked the members if they would be willing to take the petition to lawmakers.

Mayor Pat Vaughn agreed to help.

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“She explained the problems it was causing. I told her if she did do the work, I would be glad to take it forward for her,” Vaughn tells the paper.

The mayor adds, “I think if it was truly helping all the students to eat healthy, I could understand that, but it’s not working.

“They might be eating healthy (at the school), but they’re leaving and going somewhere else to eat.”

Meanwhile, as students rise up, the USDA – the department responsible for the regulations – is employing “behavioral science” to get students to eat more fruits and vegetables.

In fact, the agency is now offering a total of $6 million to school districts implement a program called “Smarter Lunchrooms.”

“It’s a lunchroom that uses behavioral science to help children to both choose and eat fruits and vegetables and other healthier options,” Behavioral Economist David Just tells Radio Iowa.

The department has discovered several “tricks” it is seeking to incentivize with the new federal bucks.

“Taking fruit out of the stainless steel bins and placing them in an attractive bowl near the cash register can increase fruit consumption by 102%,” Just says.

“Placing white milk in front of the chocolate milk can increase white milk sales by as much as 26%,” according to the economist.

The USDA will be distributing 2,000 Smarter Lunchroom “kits” to schools across the country, according to the news service.