The FCS agent, with support from the SNAP assistant, NEP assistant, and FCS assistant, planned and coordinated Super Star Chef day camp in the summer of 2022.   There were 18 Madison County students, ranging from 9 to 12 years old, who participated in Super Star Chef 2022 and got to experience some fun and new ways to discover life and social skills through working in the kitchen.  The students spent 4 hours a day for three days learning about kitchen safety skills, knife skills, nutrition, food preparation, physical activity, and cooking skills.  They participated in a variety of ways that led them to create new relationships and friendships with each other, as well as allowed for peer mentoring and leadership development.  The students were introduced to a variety of recipes that encouraged them to try new foods or combinations that they might not have previously considered.

At the end of the first day, 10 of the students noted that they tasted a new food and 17 of the students noted that they learned something new by the end of day one.  After day two, twelve students discovered they liked the veggie dip recipe that they did no expect to like. Some of the students favorite lessons  were how to measure properly, how to use a meat thermometer, and how to chop parsley.  At the completion of day three, the evaluations revealed that 100% of the students improved their score from their pre to post test. Of the 18 students that completed the course, 56% improved their scores on their post test by three or more questions. 100% of the students that completed Super Star Chef camp noted that they plan to make at least one behavior change and 78% of the students noted on their post evaluation that they intended to attempt all seven of the behavior changes listed on the evaluation which included items such as eating more fruits and vegetables, drinking more water and less soda, trying new foods and identifying healthy foods to improve their diets.

One parent noted on the Madison County Extension Office Facebook page, "Thank you so much! My kids enjoyed the week and learned so much! They came home and made dinner for our whole family!"

The lessons in Super Star Chef provided the students with hands on experiences that not only impact them initially at the time they are learning it, such as developing stovetop or knife skills, but lend to intermediate and long term outcomes as they continue to use their skills and experiences to build on later, as they grow and mature to gain independence in  cooking on their own later in life.