Test Kitchen holds first Boost graduation

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - The inaugural year of the Bloodhound Boost program was a rousing success as more than 15 fourth and fifth grade students graduated Monday evening at the Elliott Test Kitchen.

Spurred by the success of the Test Kitchen's high school programming aimed at increasing ACT performance among local students, Fort Madison school officials put together a group to create a curriculum based on food and study to gauge interest from a younger group of students.

"I think any time you can couple food and learning you get a good result," said Fort Madison Middle School Assistant Principal, Brent Zirkel.

"I went to a conference about five years ago, a brain research conference in Massachusetts, and they said forget about the strategies and all that stuff you do. The two biggest indicators of success later in life is, one, if you can delay gratification and, two, if you eat as a family in a family style setting.

Zirkel said it's a perfect setting to have Kumar Wickramasingha, the Test Kitchen founder, creating a space for students to study, learn to cook, and have a good meal in the after-school study environment.

"We are so lucky to have Kumar and his expertise, he bring in chefs and he covers that whole food part of it. The relationship you can build with kids across the table versus at a desk is very compelling."

The teachers in the program, including Amy Diewold and Misty Koser from the middle school, and Debora Hentzel from Fort Madison High School, were integral in building the curriculum.

"Our teachers have done an amazing job. They are all literacy specialists and have master's degrees or higher in that concentration so they really know what they are doing," Zirkel said.

"I'm just very excited. I mean, look at the smiles on their faces, we're not dragging these kids here. They are trying new things. I'm trying new things. Kumar even got me eating brussel sprouts.

Zirkel said the program was also dependent on the district administration and school officials, including Fort Madison Middle School principal Todd Dirth.

"You bring good people together you're gonna get a positive result," Zirkel said.

Dirth was also present at the graduation ceremony, which included dinner and cake, certificates, and some gift bags for the teachers and administrators.

"It's wonderful," Dirth said. "It gave us a chance to experiment. It was a pilot program to see how the middle school reacted, see what kind of commitment we could get and it's just been wonderful."

"We got three teachers on board and we created curriculum. This was all done in-house."

 

Bloodhound Boost, Elliott Test Kitchen, Fort Madison Middle School, Graduation

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