students cooking meal

Each quarter, eighth graders participate in a Chopped Cooking Challenge as part of Family and Consumer Sciences class. Modeled after the popular Food Network show, this competition introduces students to various ingredients, multiple cooking techniques, and teamwork. As a year-end challenge, the winning teams from each quarter had a showdown this week to see who had the best chops. The Audio Video Club provided live streaming coverage of the event on screens set up in the CMS auditorium. 

The idea was cooked up by Chatham Middle School FACS teacher Patricia Velez, who gave each team challenging mystery ingredients with which they had to cook a dish. A panel of school staff then scored their meals based on creativity, taste, and appearance.

For the ultimate Chopped challenge, a student team then took on a team of staff members to see who had the most flavor. After carefully chewing it over, the esteemed panel of judges declared the team of Mr. Stead. Mr. Fortran, Ms. Krein, and Dr. Cala Ruud as the winner!

students cooking meal

screen showing live-streamed competition

judges tasting food

student team with judges

winning staff team with judges