Kitchen All Stars Graduation!

    
Last Thursday, we celebrated the end of Kitchen All Stars with our annual Chef’s Challenge cooking competition and graduation. We welcomed not only all of our Kitchen All Stars students, but also family and friends, Weekly Classroom Assistants from every site and section of Kitchen All Stars, lots of special event volunteers from Corporate Executive Board, and three guest judges: Sonny Goyal (The Advisory Board Company), Jen Koide (Blackboard) and Jennifer McDivitt (Poste Moderne Brasserie). It’s always so special to welcome community partners to get a taste of our programs, see all of our fabulous Weekly Classroom Assistants in one place, and, of course, see the youth in our programs sharing Brainfood with family and friends. It was a very full, busy, and festive afternoon!
                         
The Chef’s Challenge cooking competition is the culminating challenge for Kitchen All Stars students. Our youth participants had the opportunity to showcase their cooking prowess and teamwork skills by working in small groups to create three signature dishes that they presented to the judges. While the competitors whipped up delicacies of all kinds, guests and participants not competing enjoyed a buffet of Brainfood classics--as always, a menu selected and prepared by our Kitchen All Stars. They made copious amounts of Jamaican Beef Patties, Jamaican Steamed Cabbage, Coco Bread, two types of lasagna, and, of course, dessert: banana chocolate chip muffins and mini cheesecakes.
 

The judges made their selections, scoring each team on a rubric that included teamwork, creativity, presentation, cleanliness of work space, and, of course, taste. The proud winners took home prizes and big smiles, the judges surely left satisfied (they tasted 27 different dishes in a span of thirty minutes!), and family and friends departed with aluminum foil parcels of leftover Jamaican Beef Patties. A wonderful time was had by all, and we are so proud of our Kitchen All Stars!