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New London Ah, the 16-year-old about to get her license. The cognitive wheels begin to grind, eventually arriving here: What good is a license without a car, right? Thus, the scheming begins.

Hit up mom or dad? Maybe start taking the trash out without even being asked? Broker a deal with the grandparents instead?

Or you could be Nadya Murphy and make your own bombs.

Meet Nadya: an honor student, lacrosse player and junior at the New London Science and Technology Magnet High School. Her idea The Hot Chocolate Bomb has become a bit of a cottage industry of deliciousness, much to the delight of her customers. Not only is she making money toward her first car, but she's even donating some of it to the New London Community Meal Center.

"I found the whole Hot Chocolate Bomb thing on Tik Tok with my aunt," Murphy said. "We thought it would be fun to experiment with because we saw they were pretty trendy. It's an easy way to earn money. I really want that car."

The Hot Chocolate Bomb: a chocolate shell in a mug with hot chocolate mix, marshmallow, hot milk and various toppings. Result: a ball of hot chocolate that kids (and adults) love.

"I bought some to take to Thanksgiving," New London Board of Education member Elaine Maynard-Adams said. "The kids loved them. Then at night, we made the adult version with homemade Kahlua. Let me just tell you how good they are."

Murphy's business originates on her "Nadya's Hot Chocolate Bombs" Facebook page. At specific times, Murphy posts a link as to dates and times they'll be on sale. Everything is sold out of their house contactless now in the age of COVID. They even deliver to New London, Groton and Waterford.

"We sold a little over 350 last week," Murphy said. "We sold out in an hour. Our last sale (before that) was at the New London Holiday Market pop up sale and we gave 10 percent ($200) to community meal center. My family and I were thinking about the holidays and how fortunate we are. We thought giving back would be a nice thing to do."

There's even an educational component to this that Murphy didn't necessarily see coming. She's in the computer science pathway at school.

"I actually take an accounting class," Murphy said. "A couple of concepts I've learned in accounting have become applicable to real life. I'm learning the basic steps of having a business, how sales work and having different accounts. Transferring money, transactions, things like that I'm seeing it in real life and it's helping me in class."

Murphy has to pay for chocolate milk used to make the shells, hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, sprinkles, candy cane bits, bags to package them and business cards. Not cheap.

"This wouldn't be possible without my aunt, Brenda De Los Santos," Murphy said. "She helps me manage everything from my Facebook page to my business cards. Once I get my car I will be chauffeuring her around for the next year probably."

This story hits virtually every happy note on the staff. Hard not to root for this kid. She's working for everything she wants and has, even if unwittingly, discovered a way to tie school to real life. And her product hot chocolate is something we can all pretty much agree is yummy.

"We're thinking of doing a couple more sales," Murphy said. "The demand will go down as it gets warmer. People will have to check the page to know. It's been fun. And a lot of work. But I know cars aren't cheap. That would be a pretty large burden to have my family try to pay for. So why not try to make it myself?"

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro

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Nadya's Hot Chocolate Bombs: yummy for the tummy - theday.com