Congratulations to Edison Middle School of Sioux Falls, SD on winning First Place and $2,500 in our Popcorn Pep Club Contest!

Teacher Janelle Revier submitted an impressive entry on behalf of her students who used popcorn across curriculum. She wrote about their school spirit: “We had an A-MAIZE-ING time trying to win this contest! We touched on seven different disciplines:

• Read daily POPCORN trivia over announcements for Language/Arts/Reading (LAR).
• Read about popcorn from www.popcorn.org “Encyclopedia Popcornica” article entitled The Science of Popcorn (LAR/Science). Viewed popcorn popping in slow motion.
• Made cones from scrapbook paper (ART).
• Made popcorn toppings, French Vanilla popcorn, and popcorn squares (FACS). Used cone to eat popcorn.
• Viewed Good Eats “Popcorn” episode (Science).
• Unit pricing activity (MATH).
• Had popcorn relay race (P.E.).
• Created popcorn cupcakes (FACS). Made popcorn cupcake wrappers and popcorn “did you know?” fact sheets (ART & LAR). Delivered popcorn cupcakes and fact sheets to the trivia winners. Completed a popcorn reading and summarizing activity (LAR).
• Included a popcorn write-up in our school newsletter.
• Additionally, a substitute teacher heard about the fun and brought in an ear of popcorn from his garden for us to try.

Congratulations to Streetsboro Middle School of Streetsboro, OH on winning Second Place and $1,000!

Hats off to Streetsboro’s teacher Gail Hand and her 8th grade Living Skills Classes, who created fashionable popcorn wear and so much more. Ms. Hand writes:

“We did a unit on popcorn in my 8th grade Living Skills class at Streetsboro Middle School. We were learning about vegetables and the popcorn unit fit nicely. We studied the history of popcorn, the scientific reason why popcorn "pops", correct measuring and nutritional information about popcorn. The students were then given the opportunity to showcase their creativity and popcorn spirit! As you can see the students made signs, posters, popcorn hats/necklaces, and wrote lyrics for popcorn songs/raps. We finished the week with a fun movie at which popcorn was served! :) Thanks for the opportunity to share with you our love of popcorn and your help in improving student's learning and growth!"

Congratulations to Hillcrest High School of Simpsonville, SC on winning Third Place and $1,000!

The Pep Club Contest drew entries from across America, but it also drew two submissions from competing teams at the same school! Tim Coyle’s Foods 2 class won over his colleague, Catherine Brehmer and her class who received honorable mention. Here’s more about Tim’s winning entry:

“Popcorn can be used for many things, but now Mr. Coyle’s Foods 2 class has taken it to a new level by creating a Hillcrest High School Popcorn Ram to show our popcorn spirit.

We created the ram using household items and then gave it some flair by spray-painting it our school colors. We added a wreath and blinking lights to give it that holiday touch. Together we are making the ultimate holiday popcorn ram. To add to the fun we made a rap, created a popcorn mascot costume, and made a plaque using kitchen ingredients to show what popcorn means to us. We think that corn is amazing and now we have discovered many new uses for it.

Throughout this epic project, our class discovered new talents we never knew we had. One of the greatest things is that in just a few days, everyone in the class became closer. We are all little kernels that will eventually pop and burst with creativity and excitement, which gives true feeling of pride in one’s self. This project was a good way to learn how to be committed to something and that if we are dedicated enough, we can achieve our goals with popcorn spirit!"

Honorable Mention:

Hillcrest High School
Simpsonville, SD
Catherine M Brehmer, Teacher
About spirit:

Popcorn is like our school spirit, when it heats up that's when the fun gets started. When the popcorn competition was suggested simply thinking about working with popcorn didn't exactly get the fires burning. Yet realizing that all the students could be part of the entire creative popcorn process, cooking, tasting, gluing and painting was great. Knowing popcorn is contagious, the small, the taste, and certainly the fun making it made everyone smile. The popcorn smell rolled through our halls making people drool as they passed by. Our class joined forces and worked together maintained our individuality, which is a wonderful tribute to popcorn, as it too comes in all flavors, shapes and coating even rolled together each piece is right there. Popcorn is like the world wide web, it crosses over generations, races, it is truly universal everyone loves it! Popcorn can do anything and so can we!

Honorable Mention:

Sandy Creek Central School
Sandy Creek, NY
Marsha Maxon, Teacher
About spirit:

The freshman students made five foot tall popcorn boxes for our homecoming spirit wall to go with our Disney movie theme. We saved the boxes and used them for our popcorn project. Our school sponsored an anti-bullying day for all students k-12. The freshman students made popcorn and dressed in vintage clothing to pass out popcorn to the junior high students. The students loved the popcorn and it was a great way to demonstrate community and thoughtfulness. The junior high students loved seeing their high school peers dressed up for the occasion and handing out popcorn for them to eat! The cardboard for the tall popcorn boxes was donated by a local furniture store and the students cut, painted and decorated the boxes.