Meatball Cookoff

The faculty and staff of Cooper City High School successfully kicked of their twelfth annual Meatball Cook-off in order to renew their Spectacular Meatballs Are Served Here (SMASH) scholarship fund. ESE coordinator Jill Beer won the Meatball Cook-off for the second year in a row.

“This Competition is a fun way to bring the faculty together while working towards a good cause,” Beer said.

The Meatball Cook-off, hosted by math teacher Randi Glantz for faculty of CCHS, is an event in which three teachers are selected to exhibit their own meatball recipes and be judged by fellow faculty members. This year the chosen three were returning champ Beer, auto shop teacher Dan Sorrentino, and band director Chris Schletter. These three staff members were hard at work the day before the bid cook-off preparing and cooking 100 meatballs in their signature sauces.

“It was fun trying to cook meatballs and just see how they turned out,” Schletter said. “I hope everyone enjoyed them.”

Each ticket was 10 dollars and the maximum capacity was no more 100 attending teachers. This year, however, the Meatball Cook-off attracted a wider range, bringing in over 100 faculty and staff members and raising over $1,000. John the Baker donated the food, excluding the meatballs, and various companies donated gift cards and items for the door prizes.

“We just thank John the Baker for all they donated,” Glantz said.

The SMASH scholarship program started over 12 years ago at the teachers’ lunch table.

Guidance counselor Ron Zicardi, former guidance counselor Diane Wells, and speech pathologist Cathy Esposito were trying to figure out which one of them was the better cook; they decided on a cook-off, to settle their disputes.

“One day at lunch they were arguing over who cooked the best and we decided to have a little cook-off,” Wells said. “Then, it turned into something bigger.”

In the past, the teachers raised money for a different scholarship through BRACE, but as the meatball cook-off became popular, the faculty decided to set money aside for their very own scholarship, SMASH, which offers students a chance at being awarded for their academic achievements. The SMASH scholarship is offered to one senior who upholds a high GPA and is engaged in several extracurricular activities, showing their true CCHS involvement.

Glantz now organizes and hosts the cook-off, following in the footsteps of the previous host, Wells. Despite all the hard work that went into making this event possible, each participant played a major role in solidifying one students’ academic future.

“It was fun having everyone together and the best part was seeing what people secretly thought of my cooking,” Sorrentino said.