SVCS Places 3rd in Beef Contest
The Stockbridge Valley High School Animal Science class earned a third-place finish in the first annual Top Cut Beef Contest, an experiential learning competition designed to expose students to beef production and nutrition. The contest, for students in grades 6-12, was presented by New York Agriculture in the Classroom and the New York State Beef Council.
The competition challenged students and teachers to create and test a beef-centric recipe and then develop and marketing plan for their product. The 10 Stockbridge Valley students, who competed in the high school division, made Flamin’ Maple Beef Jerky using meat from a local steer and maple syrup from the school’s maple facility.
In all, 30 teams participated, entering a variety of recipes, including beef chili, beef pies, beefy sliders and beef mac and cheese. Participating teams received a video, lesson plans and consumer guides to introduce students to the beef industry, careers in the field and safe food handling practices. Teams were also paired with local beef producers who either mentored students through the beef production process or supplied beef for the project. Submissions were judged by a panel of beef producers and industry experts.
The SVCS team’s meat came from a steer raised by Agriculture Teacher Erin McCaffrey-Smith. They made and sampled a hamburger recipe and multiple jerky recipes before settling on the Flamin’ Maple flavor. They worked with Family and Consumer Science teacher Jerry DeBraccio on the recipe and Art Teacher Sarah Bennati on graphics for their product marketing.
Once the jerky was made and the marketing plan was developed, the students offered samples to students in the school cafeteria and collected feedback and data. They also developed packaging and labeling, created a radio commercial to advertise the jerky, and figured out a proposed cost structure for their product as part of the project.
Participating students were: senior Rob Morris, juniors Trevor Graves and Dawson Whitehill, and sophomores AJ Foster, Laura Hopkins, Zach Jones, Brittany LaShure, Lillian Norrs, Jaden Snow and Michael Wagner.