Students’ Cookies Turn Into Dough
They’re called “Miller’s Mustangs Marvelous Munchies,” baked fresh by disabled students from Joaquin Miller High School in Reseda, and they might be coming to your neighborhood soon.
Peanut butter, chocolate chip and bestseller oatmeal-raisin are already popular at 50 cents each among the staff and administration at the specialized high school. Like other schools that have turned student-made food into a moneymaking venture--such as Crenshaw High School’s “Food From the ‘Hood”--Miller administrators said they hope they can make their one-ounce treats as popular as Mrs. Fields, at least in the San Fernando Valley.
“It’s a life dream to do this,” said teacher Sherri Maranto. “I feel good about this. It is good for the students’ self esteem . . . and [the money we make] could help the whole school.”
Bake days are Mondays and every other Friday. Usually a dozen students from Room 3 gather in the school’s cafeteria to mix and measure and scoop cookie dough onto baking sheets.
“I am so happy today,” said Michael Salmanian, 15. “I love making cookies.”
The students, who have disabilities ranging from autism to traumatic brain injury to cerebral palsy, take turns cracking eggs, mixing flour with sugar and measuring teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract.
Jason Bustamante, 18, was once a promising baseball player who became severely disabled at age 9 when he was hit by a car.
“Use your big muscles to stir it up,” Maranto encouraged Bustamante as he mixed the flavoring with creamed butter and brown sugar. Maranto guided the students through the recipe, which was written in big, bold letters on a presentation board. Everyone had a chance to mix, measure and stir.
“Why pretend the skill when you can learn the real thing?” Maranto said.
The school launched its cookie-making program three years ago to teach students skills they can use in jobs after graduation. The program, named after the school mascot, fits into the mission of providing vocational training along with academics.
“For them, cracking an egg is an amazing skill,” said teacher’s aide Terry Reynolds Gallob. “These skills will benefit them throughout their lives.”
The student bakers churn out about 100 cookies a week that they sell room to room on campus and to administrators at neighboring Grover Cleveland High School. Their goal is to increase output to 500 cookies and make the program a household name. They would like to start a student-assisted delivery service to area schools and maybe even open a store where students could sell the cookies and operate the cash register.
“We’re trying to break new ground,” said Principal Wayne Fogelsong. “Unless you dream,” he said, “you can never achieve anything.”
KUDOS
Helping Others: Two sixth-grade students from St. Bridget of Sweden School in Van Nuys raised $350 for El Salvadoran earthquake victims and said they would continue their fund-raising efforts after two more quakes shook the region this month.
Sergio Velasquez, 11, and Diana Carcamo, 12, have relatives in the area hit by a 7.6 earthquake Jan. 13. Although their family members were unharmed, the quake killed at least 844 people and damaged or destroyed 278,000 buildings.
“My dad told me a lot of people were hurt,” Sergio said, “so I came up with the idea.”
Sergio and Diana plastered the campus with posters last month, wrote a plea for donations for the school newspaper and made an announcement over the school’s public address system.
“I feel good for doing a good deed for others that need help,” Sergio said.
Sergio took the cash and checks to the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross in Van Nuys.
“This wasn’t the parents, administration’s or the church’s idea,” said school administrator Patty Watsabaugh. “That’s what we try to teach them--to give of themselves and that is certainly what they did.”
The region in and around the country’s capital of San Salvador suffered a second quake of magnitude 6.6 on Feb. 13, which killed at least 402, injured 3,153 and destroyed 45,000 buildings. A third quake measuring 5.3 hit the capital Saturday, killing at least one person.
PROGRAM NOTES
Idea Planting: Public and private kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers, administrators and community members are invited to the third annual “A Garden in Every School” conference with workshops and exhibits about how school gardens can be used to improve student achievement.
The seminar is scheduled March 31 from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Dorsey High School, 3537 Farmdale Ave. in Los Angeles. Registration is $15. Call (818) 762-1156 or see https://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/offices/lasi./PASEfly.pdf.
*
Class Notes appears every Wednesday. Send news about schools to the Valley Edition, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax it to (818) 772-3338.
