To ensure that Jr Iron Chef VT remains accessible to all Vermont students through team scholarships and registration fees lowered to one-third the true cost of the event, Vermont Afterschool relies on the generous support of our sponsors as well as a suggested admissions fee of $3 per person and $5 per family (paid at the door).
If you have any questions about the event, please contact Jr Iron Chef VT Coordinator Kerrie Mathes.
The 2025 Jr Iron Chef VT competition will be held March 29, 2025 at the Champlain Valley Exposition Blue Pavilion, at 105 Pearl Street in Essex Junction.
Location
The Champlain Valley Exposition
105 Pearl Street
Essex Junction, Vermont 05452
Directions
Event Schedule
8:45 AM: Team set up begins
9:00 AM: Doors open to public
9:30–11:00 AM: Morning heat competition
11:45–12:15PM: Morning heat awards
12:15 PM: Team set up begins
1:00–2:30 PM: Afternoon heat competition
3:15–3:45 PM: Afternoon heat awards
Concession Stand
Watching a cooking competition is bound to make you hungry! Visit the concession stand to purchase breakfast, lunch, and snack items from our friends at the Mill Market & Deli.
Activity Room
Stay tuned to find out what fun activities there will be!
Please use the following 2025 event forms:
We continue to work with the Vermont Department of Health concerning COVID-19 in our community as we get close to our in-person event.
The following honors will be given in the Morning and Afternoon Award Ceremonies for each age category:
Each year, we are fortunate to have volunteer judges from around Vermont that have a wide range of culinary and food expertise.
Sarah is the Food Education and Programs Manager for the Burlington School Food Project. In this ever-evolving role, Sarah helps district students develop healthy and wholesome relationships with their lunch trays. She oversees Farm-to-School initiatives for the district, working collaboratively with schools and the broader community to develop innovative food ventures. In addition, Sarah procures local ingredients for Burlington School District’s nine cafeterias, acts as steward to the district’s two large-scale gardens, and manages the Fork in the Road student-run food truck with infectious energy and inspiration.
Jaida, a Vermont native, lives in Hinesburg and began her culinary journey baking as a hobby. Jaida was a participant in the 2015 Jr. Iron Chef VT competition. After diving into the culinary world, she owned and operated a small home-baking business. Jaida now works as the Marketing and Events Coordinator at Hula Lakeside in Burlington and is back to cooking and baking for fun. She’s happy to be back at Jr Iron Chef VT, this time as a judge, and is excited to see the beginning of the journey for the young chefs in this year's competition.
Karlie Gunderson works for the Burlington School District as the Assistant Director of Expanded Learning Opportunities. In her role, she works closely with the elementary afterschool programs in the district and supports summer programming K-12. Karlie has worked in afterschool programs for the last 10 years and loves making connections with students in the afterschool third space. Karlie also serves on the Maple Run Unified School District school board where she lives in Saint Albans. In her free time, you might find her chasing her preschool-aged daughter around, growing flowers and veggies in her backyard, or making delicious breakfast sandwiches with Pigasus Meats at the Burlington Farmers Market.
Aziza Malik is a fifth grade teacher at Champlain Elementary School in and the 2024 Vermont State Teacher of the Year. Before teaching, she worked for several local Vermont businesses, nonprofits, and educational organizations in Vermont including Shelburne Farms, the Intervale Center, Winooski Valley Park District, Radio Bean, City Market, the Sustainability Academy, and the Integrated Arts Academy. Aziza’s work includes being a coach of the grand-prize-winning team of the first ever Jr Iron Chef VT competition in 2008! She brings these experiences into her classroom, regularly partnering with community members and local institutions to connect her curriculum to real life. Aziza continues to work to create policies, practices, and curriculum that are more inclusive of Vermont schools' diverse communities.
Katie Mobley is CCV's Dean of Enrollment and Community Relations. Katie has worked in higher education since 1997, beginning as an admissions counselor at her alma mater, Middlebury College. In 2002, she graduated from the University of Vermont’s Higher Education and Student Affairs program. She has worked at the Community College of Vermont for the past twenty years in a variety of roles including Coordinator of Academic Services and Co-Director of Secondary Education Initiatives, where she was involved with ACT 77 and the Expanded Learning Task Force. Katie is currently CCV's Dean of Enrollment and Community Relations. Outside of work, you can often find her coaching soccer or driving her kids to hockey rinks.
Laura started her professional culinary journey at 13. She has worked in many restaurants throughout Vermont, Massachusetts and Alaska and is currently the Pastry Chef for Heirloom Hospitality at Hen of the Wood, Doc Pond’s and Prohibition Pig in Vermont.
Chef Jim Birmingham is the Food Service Director for the Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools and is an American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef. Chef Jim has been the Jr Iron Chef VT Judging Captain since 2015. ”I think that it is a valuable event that teaches lifelong lessons in nutrition, culinary arts and teamwork. It is always a treat to see the level of engagement that the competitors bring along with their excitement for healthy, fresh local ingredients."
Ian has dedicated his career to supporting the health and well-being of local schools and communities. Ian grew up in Bridport, VT, and graduated from the University of Vermont. He spent time overseas teaching in Mumbai, India after graduation, before taking a job as an elementary school teacher at Cabot School. During his years at Cabot, he also served as a youth mentor and basketball coach. In 2020, he received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Pennsylvania State University. In his dissertation, Ian examined the roles that educational leaders, educators, and school boards played in responding to the opioid crisis in western Pennsylvania. He has authored numerous published articles, presented research to policymakers, and worked with many local practitioners on the ways schools can support community health. Ian has taken this passion and direction into his work as Health and Physical Education Content Specialist at the Vermont Agency of Education. When not working, he is likely chasing around his two children aged one and four.
Justice is a professional stunt performer for film and television with more than 60+ IMDb credits. Being an avid mover and action sports enthusiast, he helped open Elevate Movement Collective in Stowe, VT to help empower individuals to learn safe progressions in extreme sports and challenge their athletics. He has also been with the Waterbury Skatepark Coalition in their grassroots effort to help establish a new skatepark in Waterbury, VT. Justice loves vegetarian cuisine, punk/ metal music, being outside in his home state of VT, and traveling.
Chris Miller is Global Social Mission Director at Ben & Jerry’s and sits on the company’s executive leadership team. Chris leads the work to integrate the company’s progressive values into the day-to-day operations of the global ice cream company. This includes the sustainability strategies, values-led sourcing and supply chain work, and the company’s unique and award-winning corporate activism model. Before joining Ben & Jerry's, Chris led the sustainability work at Seventh Generation, the leader in natural non-toxic household and personal care products. In addition to his for-profit experience, Chris directed Greenpeace USA's national climate change campaign and served on the staff of Congressman Bernie Sanders. He currently serves as chair of the board of directors of Car Share Vermont and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
Chef Cheryl Niedzwiecki has been a Jr Iron Chef VT coach for past teams that have won the Lively Local, Crowd Pleaser awards; a Skill USA Culinary Competition Coordinator in 2022; a Pro Start Burger Challenge Coach for the 1st and 3rd place winning teams in 2022; a Vermont Skills USA Baking and Pastry coach for the 3rd place student team in 2019, and the Vermont Skills USA Demo Coach for the 1st place student team in 2018.
She is ServSafe Manager certified, a Customer Service Institute of America Certified Customer Experience Professional, a certified ProStart Educator, and a former certified Chef de Cuisine by the American Culinary Federation.
She was the Stafford Technical Center Hospitality Instructor from 2001–2013, the caterer for weddings and events at Crisanver House from 1998–2008, owner of Humble Baker (wedding and special occasion cakes) from 1990–2010; and a chef/baker at Killington Grand Hotel, Coffee Exchange, McKerley HealthCare, Green Mountain at Fox Run, Cappuccino’s, as well as hotels, restaurants and bakeries in New Jersey.
Cheryl has an AOS from Culinary Institute of America, a BS from Johnson State College, and an MBA from the College of St. Joseph.
Micah Tavelli started cooking in various Oregon pubs at 18 years old. In 2016, Chef Micah made the cross-country jaunt to Vermont where he spent a season at Basin Harbor before moving on to a four-year stint at Hen of the Wood in Burlington. After two years as sous chef at Hen, Micah then accepted the chef de cuisine position at Dedalus, where owner Jason Zuliani later approached him about coming on board as executive chef at Paradiso. Micah is a 2024 James Beard Award Semi-Finalist.
Cat is an afternoon/evening news anchor at WCAX-TV. She's been with Channel 3 for almost 13 years. When she's not on the air, you can find her baking delicious desserts (which she frequently pawns off on coworkers), reading, learning Spanish, dancing, adventuring with her husband, and spoiling their three cats -- Inky, Smudge, and Yam.
Matthew is the Outreach & Communications Manager and Media Artist for the Governor’s Institute of Vermont (GIV). He’s a Vermont-based musician, photographer, filmmaker, and designer. Outside of his media work, Matthew has worked as an educator in Vermont for several decades teaching social studies and career/tech media. He now coordinates summer adventure programs for high school students with the GIV. Having worked with many culinary and baking students in his teaching career, Matthew brings a background of cooking experience including training in Thai cooking styles as well as French and Italian cuisine. Matthew also enjoys skiing, rocking out, and singing in the shower.
Clarina Cravins is a French Creole chef and Founder of littlemisstaco.com, a farm to table meal prep startup that opened in March of 2023. Clarina has roots that reach across the nation, from South Central Louisiana to the greater Boston area. She brings over a decade and a half of culinary expertise with her and has worked in restaurants, led a culinary education department teaching both children and adults, hosted her own cooking show for a number of years, founded a catering business and has spent the last year building a farm-to-table meal prep business from the ground up. She specializes in creating sustainable and locally sourced fully prepared dishes that are delivered to customers at their homes each week to easily reheat throughout the week. As a lifelong advocate for preventative medicine via nutrition, Clarina is making her life mission to figure out how to get fresh farm to table meals into as many American bellies as possible.
Abdullahi Ibrahim is the Executive Chef at August First and was raised in a family that loved cooking traditional and tasty food. His family moved to Vermont from Kenya, and he developed a passion for cooking by watching, helping, and learning alongside his mother. A graduate of New England Culinary Institute, he moved to Boston to train at Blue Ginger, one of Chef Ming Tsai’s restaurants in Wellesley, MA. He later moved back to Vermont to be closer to his family and started to work with Chef/Owner Frank Pace Jr. at the Great Northern. As a new dad, he plans to do his best to raise his kids in a world filled with wonderful foods and flavors! His future goals in his workplace are to become more connected to the community and to bring Afro Caribbean flavors into our beautiful Green Mountain State.
Malik attended Champlain College to study secondary education and psychology, and has worked in his community as a mentor to elementary and high school students through several local organizations, including the King Street Center. Most recently, he has coordinated Vermont afterschool and summer middle school programs and coached a Jr Iron Chef VT team in 2023. Malik loves music, history, and supporting the Eagles and Arsenal. His passion for community service has led him to run for city council in 2024.
Rocket Rocket is the driving force behind "Eat Vermont," an Instagram account celebrating and supporting Vermont's local food scene, and "Stellar," an AI-powered mobile application that empowers people to create custom recipes and navigate the kitchen. He's an alumnus of The Putney School '10 and Middlebury College '14 and is due to graduate from Vermont Law School this May. A member of the Hartford Selectboard, Rocket loves telling stories and all things that bring people together.
Owner & chef of Mister Foods Fancy Food Truck and Fancy's (opening 2024), Paul cooks mostly vegetables using an array of spices and herbs that aren't typical to traditional American cuisine. His menus aim to highlight the glorious farmers and farms we have here in the state of Vermont.
During the event weekend of the event, dozens of volunteers help with set-up, team registration, activities, and clean-up. Volunteers receive free admission to the Jr Iron Chef VT competition.
If you have any questions or are interested in volunteering, please contact Jr Iron Chef VT Coordinator Kerrie Mathes.
All entries will be judged by the following criteria:
The registration fee offsets the costs associated with running Jr Iron Chef VT, including event rentals, printing, and staff time to coordinate the event. Teams fund their registration and practice expenses in a variety of creative ways. Sponsorships from small businesses, incorporation into after school programs, healthy bake sales, and PTO donations help teams across the state raise their Jr Iron Chef VT expenses. Please be in touch if you need help or ideas to fund your team!
Beginning on November 8, 2023, registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis until 70 teams are reached. Additional applications will be put on a waiting list in the order they were received.
Including a professional chef on your team can help in a lot of ways. First, your chef probably has some great ideas for recipes using local ingredients, plus s/he can help you make sure your dishes come out just like you hope. Also, getting to know a chef can be a fun way to connect with a local restaurant. So, where can you find a chef to join your team?
Think about what your favorite restaurants are; do they have a chef who could help? If you don’t have a favorite restaurant, you might find a restaurant that is a member of the Vermont Fresh Network (VFN). To be part of the VFN, chefs promise to buy ingredients from local farmers. That is a bonus to your team since these are chefs already committed to using local ingredients. You can also consider asking one of the cooks from your school cafeteria if they could help you. They know a lot about cooking food that kids love and might have some secret recipes that are sure to win the competition. Once you have found chefs that you are interested in, you should write them a letter or call them on the phone to explain what Jr Iron Chef VT is and why you want their help. If you are calling, avoid calling right at lunch or dinner time when the chefs are super busy.
No, team coaches are allowed to provide hands-off guidance and advice only.
Recipes are reviewed by members of the Jr Iron Chef VT Planning Committee to ensure they comply with Jr Iron Chef VT guidelines. Feedback and suggestions are given freely.
Team Cancellation Policy
We at Jr Iron Chef VT look forward to you joining us for our annual event on March 29, 2025. However, if your team is unable to join, we ask that you please withdraw as soon as possible to open up space for others to register. Cancellations must be sent in writing to Becka Wilcke by February 1, 2025, to be eligible for a refund. All cancellations after that date, including no-shows or illnesses, are non-refundable. After February 1, 2025, teams with confirmed registrations are liable for all related registration fees, including payments that have not yet been received by Vermont Afterschool at the time of cancellation. We are unable to make exceptions for emergencies; however, you may send a substitute in the place of a registered attendee.
Event Cancellation Policy
In the event of postponement of Jr Iron Chef VT by Vermont Afterschool due to inclement weather, acts of God, or other occurrences beyond the organization’s control, Vermont Afterschool will make a reasonable attempt to reschedule the event. If Jr Iron Chef VT is canceled, registrants may choose to receive a 50% refund of their paid registration fee or contribute the full registration fee to Vermont Afterschool to support a sustainable Jr Iron Chef VT program for years to come.
Jr Iron Chef VT is a career exploration program and competition that empowers Vermont youth to create locally sourced meals that promote Vermont’s Farm to School efforts.Since 2008, more than 5,000 Vermont middle and high school students on 1,000+ teams have participated in this groundbreaking program. Along the way, they’ve learned how to create and prepare recipes from scratch, built self-confidence, developed teamwork, leadership, and communication skills, learned about local agriculture and nutrition, and established relationships with peers, chefs, mentors, and local farmers. The program culminates one day every March when youth from across the state are brought together to stand side-by-side in an orchestrated frenzy—dicing, grating, and sautéing their way to culinary fame!
Want to know how to start a Jr Iron Chef VT program at your school, but you don’t know where to begin? WE CAN HELP! Please contact Jr Iron Chef VT Coordinator Kerrie Mathes.
Preparations are well underway for the next Jr Iron Chef VT competition. In some districts, Jr Iron Chef VT has become so popular that qualifying competitions are held in the fall to determine who will be among the almost 300 students on the 70 teams participating in our statewide event. Our organizing committee is busy reaching out to new schools, selecting judges, and brainstorming the next great event. We are soliciting financial support to help us usher Jr Iron Chef VT into its second decade.
If you have any questions about the event, please contact Jr Iron Chef VT Coordinator Kerrie Mathes.
Vermont Afterschool, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and contributions are tax deductible. Your gift supports our efforts to increase the quality of and access to afterschool and summer programs in Vermont, as well as to empower youth.
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