Laurel High School

In the two weeks leading up to the Delaware Teen Battle Chef showdown everyone at Laurel High School rallied behind the Teen Battle Chef students in order to support them. Sumaiya Sarwar comments, "I knew that students loved the program and that teachers knew about it and at times judged for us. However, I didn't know that the students talked about their experiences in class and asked teachers for ideas on presentations.

"Leading up to the battle, teachers and random students would wander into my office asking about our menu, our presentation and the judges. Teen Battle Chef has given students a chance to represent Laurel outside the community and it's been amazing to see the support and enthusiasm that everyone has for our students.

"Our team won the battle...and after people at Laurel found out, the excitement hasn't died down. The Business teacher surprised us with a poster made from pictures I had sent the teachers, random district members stopped by the say congrats and the TBC students would stop people in the hallways just to show off what they had done the previous day.

"I used to think that TBC and HealthCorps mostly gave students a healthy education. But these past weeks have really demonstrated how the program transforms lives outside of just health."