Turns out, a dash of hard work and a dallop of cooperation makes for a good time and a good meal.
Every ingredient plays an important role in a recipe – just like everybody brings something to the table when it comes to teamwork.
This statement was made multiple times Thursday morning, when a special group of Berkeley County School District students came to the district’s Child Nutrition Services building for a fun activity that involved making pizza and decorating cupcakes with the Young Chefs Academy of Charleston.
Young Chefs Academy is located in Mt. Pleasant and is a franchise that teaches children the joy and value of cooking through classes, camps, field trips and parties.
Young Chefs also offers team-building opportunities for adults, and did one with BCSD Superintendent Dr. Anthony Dixon and cabinet members earlier in the school year. Dixon said the adults enjoyed it, so he thought it would be a great opportunity to bring Young Chefs back to work with the district’s 2023 Turnaround Achievement Award recipients.
The recognition is a long-running program that honors students who have previously experienced challenges and hardships – both at home and at school – but made the decision to literally “turn it around” for themselves and make sure they stay on the right track to get a high school diploma.
These students are now excelling in their classes, both academically and behavior-wise. They received their awards back in March, but Dixon thought to bring Young Chefs in as an extra treat.
“Traditionally each year, we’ve done an activity with our Turnaround Students, and so we were thinking of doing something different this year that would engage the kids, that would require them to work together, talk to each other, meet new people and do something a little different,” Dixon said.
Dixon also said the district is very proud of these students for the gains they have made at their schools.
“I like the theme and the concept that everybody brings something to the table, like every ingredient brings something specific to a recipe,” he said, adding that making a positive difference in Berkeley County is going to require the help of everybody.
Dixon recalled when he did a cooking activity with district officers, participants made a spaghetti dish – and joked that the children seemed to be better chefs than the adults.
“They’re enjoying themselves,” Dixon said.“I think they’ve gotten a lot out of this experience.”
Nancy Whelan and Diane Tausig, owners and partners with Young Chefs Academy of Charleston, led Thursday’s activity with the students, who started off the event by splitting into teams of five between three work tables to learn how to make homemade pizza from scratch.
Tausig said it makes for great team-building opportunities.
“The skills that you bring to the table, preparing a recipe, you see different sides of people that you might not see in a classroom or a work environment,” she said. “You have to work together. You have to read the recipe together. And then, at the end, the best part: what better way to get to know people than sharing a meal around a table?”
Whelan added all the ingredients are needed to make the recipe work – just like every person is needed to accomplish a common goal.
“We’ll teach them the skills in the beginning, and then they’ll have the recipes and we’re going to…let them go,” she said.
Tausig said Young Chefs is all about empowering students, and the best part is seeing how enthusiastic the children get as they make the recipes.
“We’re expecting to hear lots of laughter and ‘oohs and aahs’ once it comes out of the oven,” she said.
Tausig’s predictions were correct: the students were fairly shy when they first entered the kitchen at the beginning of the activity, but they very quickly overcame it. The kitchen gradually became louder over the course of about two hours while the students cooked.
They ended up making their own little individual pizzas, and that is where their creativity came into play. Some students treated the dough like art projects, making them into the shapes of hearts, stars and even letters of their first names.
“The food is really good,” Whelan said. “They (the kids) love to see that they have created something…they come up with really creative things.”
After shaping the dough, students covered their pies in tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni and olives (or whatever selected items they wanted) and the pizzas went into the oven.
While the pizzas cooked, the students took on a “cupcake challenge” where they took a basic cupcake, lathered it in cream cheese icing, and had to make a “campfire” on top using pretzel sticks, toothpicks and marshmallows.
Of course, they got to eat their creations at the end.
Additionally, students left with a coupon to take a free class at Young Chefs Academy of Charleston.
“We hope they come out and see us in Mt. Pleasant,” Tausig said.