On May 19, the Middle School Cooking Club members competed in the 4th annual Department of Public Instruction Whipping Up Wellness Competition at the Babcock Hall test kitchens located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
Team RSVP was chosen as one of five finalist teams for the state competition. Members included: Natalie Chitwood, Laney Finkelmeyer, Flo Torres, and Rita Wilson.
Out of the five teams, only one was chosen for the top spot.  As team coach Julie Pompos described the outcome, “RSVP did not lose; they just did not win. Quite frankly, it is rather impressive that the team made this final round of competition. Team RSVP’s knife handling skills and complexity of the dish they created and prepared undoubtedly surpassed the other four teams. There really was no specific rubric for scoring that was made public.”
The panel of distinguished judges was comprised of Madison area chefs, food industry representatives and local media celebrities. Pompos added that, “All of the judges were complimentary of the Mineral Point Middle School students’ skill, innovation and maturity demonstrated during their verbal presentation.”
In true Mineral Point fashion,  this endeavor was donor-supported by local community members. Julie extends a heartfelt thank you to Lois Federman of Valley View Farms for the high quality beef that was donated for the launch of this project and all of the practice cooking sessions. Additionally, she cannot thank Charlie Socher enough for his intellect, patience, vast knowledge of all things food as well as great, lively discussions with the students during practice sessions.