On Saturday, our Ranger Raccoons made the trek up to the Champlain Valley Expo to compete in this year’s annual Junior Iron Chef Competition hosted by Vermont Afterschool for our third year.

Bailey Ingalls (team captain), Lee Blanco and Aiden Powell cooked their hearts out and worked together like a well oiled machine making their recipe “Raccoons Gone Curry-ous”, while their team hype-man (and alternate) Quinton Cheney danced the entirety of the competition cheering them on, as well as the other teams! He became a favorite amongst the judges and the other coaches for his enthusiasm and the joy he brought to the event.

The team was surrounded by support and love, as every student had family come cheer them on! You can watch the WCAX coverage here.

Our Ranger Raccoons finished with their dish with about 5 minutes to spare! (Those last ten minutes are the real nail biters for me every year).

The LR team came out victorious winning “Mise en Place” for the High School Division for the 2nd time in only 3 years of competing!

(Mise en Place is awarded to the team that has the most organization, best kitchen skills, team work, best presentation, and cleanliness throughout the competition)

The team receive a score sheet produced by the judges at the end of the competition that details the feedback they received, and at the very bottom of the feedback sheet the judges wrote that they would be making this dish at home again!

Also, LR wasn’t the only NEK school that took home the gold on Saturday. Jason Marcoux’s team from Derby Elementary won Mise en Place for the middle school division!