The Great American-Journalism Baking Contest

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At the culmination of a long and successful year in journalism, the journalists wanted to celebrate the end of the year. And the best way they knew how came in the form of a bake-off. As the bake-off used to be an annual event, this year’s journalism class hoped to continue the tradition.

I’ve been trying to get the journalism class to do something fun together for a while now. It all started after I wrote my Groundhog Day article for the February issue this year. I offered up the idea that we should all road trip an hour away to visit the groundhog’s new habitat, yet surprisingly, there were little to no people who were interested in doing that. I tried again, offering up roller-skating, Medieval Times or that revolving sushi place, to no avail. So, when it came time to pick articles for the May issue, I knew what I wanted to do.

The journalism class chose to revive the annual idea of a journalism bake-off as a way to end the year and bring the class together before the senior journalists left for their senior retreat.

Many students outside of the journalism class were excited for the journalism bake-off, as well. Junior Hannah Hufham said, “My favorite part of the Green & Gold is that they write so many different articles. They can be so funny; I’m excited to see how the bake-off turns out.”

To begin the bake-off, the journalism class was inspired by the past baking contest. So the journalists contacted Andrea Shupert, Assistant Director of College Advising and English teacher. But most importantly for the journalists, she used to be the journalism teacher at the time when the previous bake-offs occurred.

Shupert said, “We did the bake-off every year for about 12 years; it was a tradition–an opportunity to relax from the stress of producing a paper per month.”

With the Kidz Bop version of “Party Rock Anthem playing softly in the background, journalists showed out and brought in incredible creations. Before the taste tests, senior Payton Kaloper made the brave decision to stand up on the table and pray over the food. And junior Alayna Fogarty was kind enough to sanitize it.

From senior and Copy Editor Kelly Roth’s homemade key lime pie and senior Alex Bone’s two different types of brownies to junior and Assistant Editor Sophie Zetzsche’s “homemade”-actually-store-bought cookie cake and junior Hampton Henderson’s store-bought cupcakes adorned with unicorn rings, there was a wide and delicious variety of food.

Special guest judges stopped by the class as well. Alongside the class’s vote, English teacher Dawson Zimmerman stopped by to say that senior Sydney Anderson’s award-winning, show-stopping and mouth-watering homemade peach cobbler was by far superior to the rest of the dishes, with Roth’s key lime pie a close second. Director of Christian Life and annual bake-off judge for the past 13 years, Greg Lisson also blessed the class with his presence, voting for Roth’s key lime pie, as well.

More guests included the fourth period class of English teacher Kendra Morris. Senior Jeb Brown said, “This baking contest gave me joy after I bombed my English test. I am glad food is a release from sadness.”

The bake-off was a success, and the winner was Roth, who took away not one but two awards for Best in Show and Best Presentation. But the journalism students learned that they are all winners for having such a successful year in journalism.

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