Powell students donned their Panther themed chef’s attire in Powell Middle School’s Food and Consumer Science room Wednesday evening as they worked to win over the night’s judges and earn one of three spots on the 2026 lunch menu.

Savanna Spomer, an elementary level contestant, entered her grandmother’s smothered burrito recipe. Her goal is to one day become a chef.  

When she has her own kitchen she said she’d cook anything, just not seafood.

She was joined by six other students, Russell Goolsbey, Rhett Goolsbey, Fae McNair, Sam Horton, Clayton Cox and Sonia Layland, who were chosen to cook for the Park County School District 1 board and Superintendent Jay Curtis as the first ever finalists for the PantherChef Champion Series Cook Off. 

When all the food was plated and the burners were turned off, Sam Horton won the elementary category with his Trinity Stir Fry, Sonia Layland won the middle school level with her Meatball Madness Sub Sandwich and eighth grader Fae McNair won the high school level with her Winger’s Sticky Fingers. 

The competition is part of the district wellness committee’s work to increase education in regard to nutrition. The contest is “an enrichment activity so … students could have a hands-on opportunity,” Food Services Director Savannah Layland said.

The event came about in part after middle school students asked how they could submit suggestions for the lunch menu.

“I think it was good for the kids to have the opportunity to steer the school menus and to have an opportunity to look at nutrition [through] a real world view,” Layland said. 

Work on the PantherChef competition began in November and students were able to attend a recipe workshop in early February — their recipes were due Feb. 21. A recipe committee was formed and made up of Jaci Hitz, Powell Middle School’s health and physical education teacher, Heather Allred, the culinary arts teacher at Powell High School, a Powell High student, Kari Kawano, Powell Middle’s head cook and Suzi Rivas, an accountant with the district.

The committee evaluated 16 recipes for creativity, nutritional value and ability to be prepared on a large scale. 

While the competition did not receive quite as many entries as they had hoped, it was enough for a good competition, Layland said, adding she was grateful for everyone who helped organize the competition, clean the area and guide students.

Some students even reworked their recipes to make them healthier, she added. Horton, for instance, reduced the sodium in his family’s stir fry recipe to make it healthier overall. Each student displayed their recipe card, which included ingredients and nutrition facts for the judges. 

“I commend them for keeping their cool and being able to cook on the fly with a little bit of pressure on them,” said Trace Paul, the board’s vice chair.

Horton’s recipe included onions, peppers, celery, rice and ground beef. Horton said he chose to enter the competition because he enjoys cooking and his family has always cooked a lot. 

“I just really wanted to enter because it sounded fun and I did not actually know what I was going to do until I started looking through our recipe box,” McNair said of her recipe a version of a Winger’s restaurant menu item her mom had found online.

Ahead of the judge’s decision she added that the slight spice to the chicken would make her recipe stand out. 

For Sonia Layland there was never any other option, she said, it was always the meatball sub. 

“Every meal that I’ve tasted has just been phenomenal. I really can’t find a problem with any of it,” said Kim Dillivan, the chairman of the school board. “They’re all tasty. A lot of creativity is being shown.”