Griffin School District — Fifth Grade Grizzles Get Hands-on in the Kitchen
With a commitment to scratch-cooking and incorporating local foods like salmon and bison, Tawnya White and her team regularly create opportunities for Griffin Elementary students to try new flavors and learn about the foods they are eating. While participating in Power Up Your Program during SY 2024–25, Tawnya took this a step further by making the kitchen a learning laboratory.
Over the spring, 5th grade students joined her in the kitchen to help cook the daily entrée or prepare a recipe to taste-test with their classmates. Students learned about school meals from a different perspective while making oatmeal pancakes, very berry sauce, carrot soufflé, taco soup, and fruit parfaits.
Tawnya channeled her passion for food and scratch-cooking into the initiative, and students and teachers loved the experience. Looking ahead, she hopes to expand the experience to other grades and is excited to work with teachers to explore more ways to engage their students.
 Issaquah School District – Students Give Big Thumbs Up to Thai Yellow Chicken Curry
Brian Olson came into Power Up Your Program with strong culinary interests and a commitment to making every student feel seen and valued through the meal program.
Focusing on family and student engagement, he partnered with a parent advisory group to generate recipe ideas and worked with student leaders to gather cafeteria feedback. Inspired by a dish shared by a staff-member from Thailand, he teamed up with Brian Lisser to develop a Thai Yellow Chicken Curry recipe for school lunch.
During a highly successful taste testing event at Issaquah Middle School, an overwhelming 92% of tasters said they would like to see it on the menu! Students praised the dish for its sweet, savory, and slightly spicy flavors. For some, this was the first time they had tried a curry dish, while others remarked that it reminded them of home or their parents’ cooking.
The team plans to launch the menu item district-wide next year, along with a host of new culturally inclusive meals.
 Vancouver School District – Family Feedback Inspires Successful Beef Picadillo Recipe and Tasting Event
While participating in Power Up Your Program, Katy Bretanus focused on gathering student and family feedback to create school meals that reflect and celebrate the district’s cultural diversity. With help from interpreters, she and her team reached out to families through surveys, phone calls, and in-person conversations. These efforts sparked meaningful dialogue and uncovered rich stories, ideas, and excitement around potential new school menu items. From these conversations, Katy and team developed a series of pilot recipes for students to taste test.
One standout success from this year was the Beef Picadillo taste test. The meal team partnered with WSU SNAP-Ed to host a fun and engaging cafeteria event across all 39 schools in the district. Most students provided great feedback and learned about the dish and its origins. Additional pilots focused on Indigenous and Middle Eastern inspired menu items, included bison with wojape sauce, and dal with golden rice.
By centering family voices and building excitement around new recipes, Katy is promoting the meal program and showing every student they matter. Katy plans to embed this feedback model into the team’s routine operations to keep community voice at the heart of the meal program.
Power Up Your Program is offered by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction through a FY23 Team Nutrition grant funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
Get Ready to Celebrate Taste Washington Day!
Save the date and start planning for the 16th Annual Taste Washington Day, Wednesday, October 8, 2025!
On this day, schools and early care and education programs across the state partner with farms to feature local foods on their menus. Taste Washington Day celebrates Washington’s many farmers and food producers, the bounty of the fall harvest, and farm to school connections. Visit the Taste Washington Day homepage to learn more, sign up, and explore free resources.
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Washington Farm to School Network
Did you know that Washington has a statewide Farm to School Network? If you are looking to connect and collaborate with others in Washington to advance equitable access to local nutritious foods and green spaces, we invite you to join the network and consider joining one of the three Communities of Practice: Local Food Sourcing, School, Agriculture and Garden Education, or Farm to Early Care & Education.
Upcoming Farm Events
Tilth Farm Walk
Join local producers and school nutrition professionals in the Pend Oreille Valley to learn about regenerative, pasture-raised meat and poultry production and how farmers and school districts can work together to provide fresh, local, and responsibly produced foods to students. This is a free event hosted by Tilth Alliance and WSU Extension.
Date: Monday, September 8, 2025 from 12 – 4pm
Location: Ramstead Ranch – Ione, WA
Register here
Farmer + School Buyer Networking and Panel Session
School food buyers are invited to a special networking session with organic and regenerative farmers from across Washington. The networking session will be followed by a panel featuring two successful farm-to-school partnerships. These events will take place during the annual Tilth Alliance conference. Registration is free for school buyers to attend the networking and panel session.
Date: Friday, November 14, 2025
Networking from 1:15 – 2:15pm
Panel from 2:30 – 3:45pm
Location: Spokane Valley, WA
Learn More - registration coming soon
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