By Thomas Clapper
FPS Staff Writer
Carrollton Exempted Village Schools held its second Warrior Test Kitchen at the high school on March 12, where teams of students competed to get a meal on the cafeteria menu.
Registered dietitian and Director of the School Nutrition Program Barbara Burns was in charge of the event. It was held in March because it is National Nutrition Month.
According to Burns, who first held the event in 2017, the idea of the test kitchen was originally conceived when her daughter inspired her. Burns said her daughter was a Big Brother Big Sister mentor, and her little sister wanted to be a chef, so she entered her little sister into a cook-off.
“My daughter told me about this, and I thought I want to do this for the school,” said Burns. “I wanted to take it to another level and have students make an entrée they would like to see on the school cafeteria menu.”
This event took place thanks to the Healthy Meal Incentive Grant sponsored by Action for Healthy Kids, the USDA and the Chef Ann Foundation. The grant was received a year and a half ago, and as part of it, Burns had to come up with ways for students to taste new foods.
The rules required each recipe to contain commodity food and either a red or orange vegetable or a dark green vegetable.
Burns reached out to teachers, who incorporated this project into their lesson plans. For example, French and Spanish classes learned about food from those cultures, and special needs classes incorporated the lesson into life skills to learn how to cook. Several other classes implemented the lesson in different creative ways.
“It took five weeks from getting the word out, getting students on board, deciding what they are going to make, and so on,” said Burns. “I sat down and consulted with each group to help guide them so it would be workable within the school cafeteria. We discussed the steps each recipe would take and ingredients.”
Burns explained that, after students got their inspiration, cafeteria staff had to get the right food and work with teachers to prepare it. On Monday, they started prepping the food, and Tuesday was for final preparations to have the kitchen ready to go Wednesday.
“We got all of the cooks on board,” said Burns. “My cook staff was phenomenal. We had to communicate with the cooks on how to get the project done and work it into their schedule while still working a normal day. They were very involved and sort of like the sous chefs who helped get the dishes made to be judged. I think the teachers were as excited as the students.”
Burns had no input in scoring and was not a judge, but she mentored and helped students with their ideas.
Thirteen judges from the community rated the dishes, including Carrollton Mayor William Stoneman, Carroll County Sheriff Calvin Graham, Carroll County District Library Director Ellen Finnicum, OSU Extension’s Corinna Gromley, Health Department’s Tina Bernard, school board members Dan Ries and Steve Pridemore, Carrollton Assistant Superintendent Andy Reeves, Carrollton Elementary Principal Holly Dodds, registered dietitian Mary Lou Keener, The Chop House owner Gary Hulett, Carrollton Free Press Standard Editor Jordan Miller, and Free Press Business Development Coordinator Connie Jenkins. Additionally, eight middle school students judged. These students were chosen by Middle School Principal Tim Albrecht.
There were 10 teams total and 11 dishes because the French team had two dishes. Out of the teams, one was a middle school team, and the other nine were high school level.
Students were judged on flavor, presentation and creativity. Each category had a score of 1 to 5, for a total of 15 points per judge. With all judges, the highest possible score was 315.
All teams received the same coaching in the form of a one-hour consultation from Burns and wore color-coded T-shirts per team.
“I told each team the first thing people will see is the display, and the last thing they will experience is the taste,” said Burns.
The winners were announced over the announcements the next day, March 13. According to Burns, scoring was very close, as only three points separated the first- and second-place participants.
Winning Recipes
1st Place: Soup’s Up with Cheeseburger Soup by FFA students Logan Pridemore, Hannah Little and Haley Leslie (267 points).
2nd Place: Jalapeño Spicers with Honduran Tacos by Miller’s AP Spanish students Dayana Martinez, Adamaris Lopez and Josh McDonald (264 points).
3rd Place: Mast Chef with Rosemary Chicken and Roasted Redskins by Belinda Mach’s French students Lucia Taddei, Brayden Limbacher and Tiffany Cody.
Cook’s Choice Awards
Chaos Crew’s Chico’s Beefy Enchiladas by Mrs. Davis’ Plant and Animal Science class: Nicole Degarmon, Kiley Thompson, Mikayla Thompson and Emma Vrsan.
Chop It Like It’s Hot Sloppy Cheeseburger Sliders by middle school students in Ms. Piergallini and Mr. Harter’s class.
Student Judge Scores
1st Place: Jalapeño Spicers with Honduran Tacos.
2nd Place: Soup’s Up with Cheeseburger Soup.
3rd Place: It’s Not Easy Being Cheesy with Loaded Mac and Cheese Flatbread by Administration/Treasurer’s Office members Rae Fry, Amy Spears, Alyssa Newell, Natalie Witts and Megan McLean.
Honorable Mention: Chef’s de Cuisine Ratatouille by Belinda Mach’s French students Caitlynn Yerger, Ivy Slutz and Hailee Ulman.
Community Judge Scores
1st Place: Soup’s Up with Cheeseburger Soup by FFA.
2nd Place: No Soup for You: Loaded Chili Mac and Cheese by high school office staff members Craig Brooks, Kierra Robinson and Lori Bryan.
3rd Place: Mast Chef with Rosemary Chicken and Roasted Redskins by Belinda Mach’s French students.
Honorable Mention: Chef’s de Cuisine Ratatouille by Belinda Mach’s French students.
Category Scores
Student Judges
Flavor: Silly Pickles Chicken Stroganoff by Sue Sargeant’s class (35/40).
Presentation: The Jalapeño Spicers with Honduran Tacos (39/40).
Creativity: Tie (35/40) between No Soup for You Chili Mac and Honduran Tacos.
Adult Judges
Flavor: Rosemary Chicken (59/65).
Presentation: Cheeseburger Soup (58/65).
Creativity: Chili Mac and Cheese (56/65).
Other Participating Teams
Borland’s Crew’s Street Corn and Chicken Casserole: Colton Rogers, Kailey DeLawder, Ava Caldwell and Jacob Whitmore.
The Souper Soups by Spanish students Payton Hull, River Mowery and Rylee Champion.
“There were so many great dishes, I plan on trying to incorporate more into the school menu later on in the school year,” said Burns. “It is a great way to revitalize our menu. Three teams had a soup theme, which was a surprise to me. My biggest surprise was AP Spanish students’ Honduran Tacos filled with fresh vegetables and chicken. They made their own sauce with a variety of peppers and tomatoes in it.”
According to Burns, seeing the school’s students, staff and community come together for an exciting and fun event was the highlight of the Warrior Test Kitchen.
“It made my heart sing to see how excited the students and teachers were over this and how excited student judges were,” said Burns. “And happily, the scores were rather close, so nobody was a loser—they were all winners in my book. There were so many good recipes, so much work and creativity. I just want to thank the students and teachers for their investment of time and creativity, as well as the administration and school board for their support. I want to thank the judges for taking time out of their busy day for their interest in our schools and excitement for the event.”