Students Go For The Win Saturday In Cooking Challenge at One Buc Place

A team of students from New River Elementary was chosen as a finalist to compete in the Dairy Council of Florida’s third annual Gridiron Cooking Challenge this Saturday.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the event, which is part of Fuel Up to Play 60, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the National Dairy Council and the National Football League to help encourage today’s youth across the U.S. to lead healthier lives.

New River Elementary is a recipient of a Fuel Up to Play 60 grant and has participated in the event for the past three years, since the competition’s inception. The school’s team won the first year it competed, and this year’s team members want to put their school back on top.

New River fourth grade students Cameron Keehn, Payton Furman, Payton Leidy and Charyn Maldonado will make their recipe — cheesy chicken and bacon quesadilla with Greek yogurt veggie dip, for the event’s judges.

“The kids got together to create this recipe,” says Kathy Gillooly, one of the team’s coaches, along with Holly Mitchell and Ryan Ketterer (all three are physical education teachers at New River). “They wanted it to be fun and creative, and kid-friendly.” She says the students made their quesadillas in the shape of footballs, and that they were surprised at how much they liked the veggie dip, which includes spinach, peppers and onions.

Gillooly explains that the students are part of New River Elementary’s nutrition team, which goes on the school’s morning show to give tips on healthy eating and sets up a table at school events to hand out free samples of nutritious snacks and smoothies. There are nine kids on the nutrition team, so Gillooly explains that they drew names out of a hat to choose which four students would be able to participate in the cooking challenge.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Gillooly says of the competition. “They go all out to make it a big deal for the kids.”

The competition will be held at One Buc Place on Saturday, May 14. For more information about the Gridiron Cooking Challenge, please visit FloridaMilk.com/FuelUpToPlay60.