This year, the football team meals get an upgrade with the help of THS Culinary students.
story by Alyssa Langton, THS Journalism Student
The Turner Golden Bears football team plays every Friday, and every other Friday are their scheduled home games. Before this season, the team used to have pre-made boxed dinners delivered to feed the players and coaches before the game.
This season, the THS football team upgraded their pre-game team meals. Culinary Teacher Michael Levy, also a varsity football coach this year, and his culinary students make dinner for the team every game. These family-style dinners allow the team to bond and prepare for an eventful evening.
Coach Levy has been cooking for over 30 years, first in a professional setting and then sharing his knowledge with aspiring chefs. He has been a culinary teacher for four years: three at Turner High School and one year at the college level.
This is Levy’s first year coaching the football team. When asked why he decided to use his students to start feeding the football team, he said, “It was a way for advanced students to get more experience cooking for more people. It also raises money for the culinary program.”
While cooking for the football team every Friday creates challenges for his class, Levy said, “I have been cooking professionally for many years. Having done that, it is kind of second nature.” Levy hopes that making team meals will be a new tradition for Turner.
Levy’s culinary students also enjoy getting to help feed the team. One of Levy’s students is Senior Liara Flournoy. She has been taking culinary classes for six years and loves the class. She explained that to help with time management, Levy preps the food they use for the team meals. When asked about the process and preparation time, Flournoy explained, “Throughout the whole week… I am in the 4th and 5th hour class, so I stay for both. The two classes are Culinary II and the other is Culinary Applications.” This two hour class is new this school year and was created so that advanced culinary students would have more time in the kitchen to prepare and cook recipes. Flournoy explained that so far, they have made barbeque, lasagna, sandwiches and turkey and chicken wraps. She expressed that getting to cook is fun and she likes that she gets to help prepare meals.
The Golden Bear football players are also happy with this new tradition. Most describe the meals as delicious. Our Golden Bears work very hard every week. After a full week of 3-hour practices, the players are hungry for a delicious pre-game meal. Junior Darnell Hamilton is currently in his second year of playing football for Turner. Hamilton stated that he is very appreciative that culinary makes food for them.
“My favorite thing was probably their cookies. They are really good.” Hamilton said. He also shared how he loves Turner and being a part of the Turner Community. He stated, “I love our pride. Even though we may not win a lot, I love my football team. We never give up on each other. It’s a bond. It’s a family.”
The team is very thankful for the meals that culinary prepares for them. Levy and his students enjoy the process of making the food and how much the teams enjoy it. Making this a new tradition will bring the team together and allow everyone to bond. Turner is a strong community and a family.
Original source can be found here
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