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Here is a summary of what happened at Trinity College written by the victorious Victoria Lester, a teacher who we reckon deserves a thousand years of good karma...their project involved an amazing number of enthusiastic teachers and students who spent an awesome amount of time (the blood, sweat and tears type) involving lots of folks from their local community and they also said some pretty nice things about YG; but that wasn't why Trinity won...they won was because their project report addressed all the required task points and they produced a regional food which met the judging criteria. As you will read, Trinity College also won in many other ways simply because they adopted the underlying ethos of the Challenge exemplifying its full potential.

"When I hit the send button to forward our Commitment Proposal I knew that this was going to be a very different year for Catering and Hospitality students at the College, I never envisaged this was going to be a very different year for the other 1000 students in Reception to Year 12.

I had recently been involved in a South Australian Government Social Inclusion Project so the ideas, philosophies and teaching pedagogies of this project were foremost in my mind. I wanted to engage as many students as I could in real life learning, to take the silent disengaged voices from the back rows of classrooms and empower them to make decisions, take ownership, show responsibility and understand the importance of teamwork.

I told the staff about the project and gained myself a band of dedicated individuals: Mark Commane (Agriculture) Barb Palmer (Art), Clive Dobson (Science) Kate Sankey (Learning Support) Leonie Logos and Sue Philp (Year 2) Louise Skelton (Music) Aaron Whennan (Science) Tom Hancock (Maths) and so we began (quietly at first) to work our way through the rules and requirements of the competition whilst at the same time being mindful of not stifling the creativity of the young people that we were working with.

Trinity North and the Senior College then proceded to erol students in our Challege:

• Year 2 students looked after egg collection (for glazing the pastry).

• Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 Agriculture students took on the responsibility of growing crops, raising cattle, making wine and pressing olive oil.

• Year 9 Science and Learning Support planted and maintained the herb garden.

• Year 10 Art worked on logo design and packaging, and every student who entered the Art room for Semester 1 and 2 of this year got a crash course in slip casting and how to produce the famous clay pots.

• Year 8 Science were responsible for calculating the nutritional quantities for each specific pie using computer programs.

• Year 10 Business Maths looked at all financial implications of the project.

• Year 9 Vocational Music worked on the “Eat Pie” Advertising Jingle (download or listen below).

• Year 9 -12 Catering and Hospitality Students researched and designed pie recipes. They also worked tirelessly week after week hand making every pie, and as production grew from 80 pies the first week to 442 pies the final week, their dedication to the project saw other students wander in on a nightly basis wash their hands, pop on an apron and join the assembly line for final production.

• Every student in the school had the opportunity of rostering themselves on for Farmers Markets and local shows, some students even dragged their parents along to work a shift!

Our report shows clearly how we made this project successful in our school, but it does not tell the stories that I and the students have in our minds. Everyday something beautiful happened in some part of the school related to this project. While the crops have grown in the gardens so has the confidence of our students. While recipes have been developed so have life long friendships. While wine has been bottled, olives pressed into oil, clay pots sanded and onions sautéed, the commitment of our students to make this happen is something that has often left me speechless, daily reduced me to giggles and I have to admit on occasion brought a tear to my eye.

Whilst our pie recipes remain a school secret, the one thing that won’t be secret is how this project impacted on this community. I am in awe of the students and Trinity staff that I have worked with, I am in debt to a wide range of local community members who donated products, advice, time and patronage.

The Trinity Students produced Gourmet Pies of exceptional quality, something they strove hard to achieve as the popularity of the product grew and the demand for pies increased. The most important lessons they learnt was how to work together to meet others high expectations and the expectations that they themselves had set. They are proud of their work and of each other and they have proven what I originally set out to prove, that a love of life and good food are intertwined. There is a glow around here. An acknowledgement that they have been part of something that could never be repeated. Thank you Young Gourmet for having such a positive impact in the lives of my students and this community.

My advice to all is to make sure you enter in 2007 and let your project be limited only by the imagination of the young people that you are aiming to engage. Inspire your community to help children to be a part of something so special. "

Victoria Lester Head of Home Economics
Dean of Students