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ONNORVILLE -- Soup's on! The special fundraiser set for Sunday will help send students from Buckeye Local to Walt Disney World for a culinary competition.
A soup dinner moneymaker will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Buckeye Local High School. The event will help benefit the Foods 2 class. Selections will include, wedding soup, chicken noodle, tomato chicken dumpling, broccoli and cheese, stuffed pepper, loaded potato, chicken gnocchi and vegetable. Patrons can dine in or carry out their selections. Meals cost $5 each and include a dinner roll or cornbread. Beverages and a cookie can also be purchased.
Teacher Luke Fabry said it was one of many food-based fundraisers to help send his class to Florida this spring for the Cook Around the World Competition.
Eight students, including seniors Samantha Ankrom, Kiarra Eastham, Skylar Ebright, Shayleigh Hornyak, Ryder Kinberg-Colabelli, Preston Lindsey and Nyja Short, along with junior Brennin Takach, will be heading to the event at Disney World Epcot in Orlando from April 26-29. The contest will take place April 27.
"It is a cooking competition at Disney World that is open to high schools across the world, but it is primarily the United States," Fabry explained. "The soup event is a fundraiser for our competition. We were invited to the competition and I believe most schools with culinary courses are invited. Most of the schools at Disney will be career centers but Buckeye Local's current administration has been extremely helpful with allowing me to create a higher-level culinary class that lets upperclassmen have a two-period course."
Fabry added students are excited to attend. High school teachers and a school board member will act as chaperones. According to the event's website, the event allows high school students to compete in a hands-on culinary experience and hear from top colleges and universities about career opportunities in the culinary and hospitality fields. Participants have a chance to learn and hear from top celebrity chefs.
As part of the competition, the young chefs will choose a random envelope that includes a culture on which to base the dish and receive a protein such as fish, beef, pork or chicken. They will be placed into categories of main dish and entrees and have access to ingredients such as vegetables, fruits and breads, plus they will prepare a menu. Judges include representatives from Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida and Valencia College in Orlando.
Professional chef Jet Tila is the celebrity mentor. The students will attend a leadership seminar led by professional chefs, entrepreneurs and chefs who teach at colleges. They will go on the Seeds Tour, which is a program that Disney uses to produce fruit, vegetables and fish for their park restaurants and to benefit the environment. Free time will be given for the teens to golf and enjoy the parks.
"This will be our very first time and we are unbelievably excited," Fabry said. "I would like to continue to offer exciting opportunities to future students. I am looking for other trips to take students each year and maybe create three- or four-year rotations. I would like to thank the administration at each level, the public and truly our teaching staff for the enormous amount of support they have shown my students."
"The students have done an incredible job moving toward our goal," Fabray continued, noting the goal is more than $11,500. He noted students have put in an "incredible amount of hard work and dedication."
"The real-world skills they have gained on this journey are unbelievable," he stated. "I am amazed every single day with their dedication and am incredibly proud of these students. They are remarkable young people. Once they graduate, I am going to deeply miss them, but I am excited to see where their life journeys take them."
Other fundraisers held have included a pulled-pork dinner for the public to selling baked goods at the school. More in-school events are being eyed for students and staff, officials said. Donations are being accepted and anyone interested can send a check payable to: Buckeye Local School District, c/o Luke Fabry, Buckeye Local High School, 10692 state Route 150, Rayland, OH, 43943.