The School Nutrition Association has announced the recipients of this year’s national award winners, right before National School Lunch Hero Day on Friday. Here’s a look at the winners.
Employee of the year
Martha Pellegrino
Nutrition Educator at Blackstone Valley Tech
Blackstone Valley Technical Regional School District
Upton, Mass.
Pellegrino oversees the daily activity of the school’s foodservice program and acts as a liaison between students, parents, nurses and foodservice staff to accommodate students’ dietary needs. Along with securing a grant to purchase mobile food carts for the school’s breakfast program, she also has started a wellness blog that provides students and families with information on nutrition, fitness and health.
Manager of the Year
Heather Blades
Cafeteria Manager at Spring Run Elementary
Chesterfield County Public Schools
Midlothian, Va.
Blades is known for her serving line decorations that celebrate the seasons and special themed days. She also takes the time to engage with students in the cafeteria and eats lunch with a different student each day. She has led numerous initiatives, including “Rev Your Bev,” which spotlighted fruit- and herb-infused water. She also helped the school acquire a smoothie bike in the cafeteria for students to blend their own smoothies by pedaling. Blades also worked with local apple growers and led a livestreamed "Crunch Heard ‘Round the Commonwealth" event during which students and staff simultaneously bit into Virginia-grown apples.
Director of the Year
Annette Hendrickx Derouin
Director of Food and Nutrition Services
Willmar Public Schools
Willmar, Minn.
Derouin has been working in school nutrition for 24 years and was one of the first directors in Minnesota to begin a farm-to-school program. She has worked with state and community groups and farmers to create recipes, menus, procurement tools and documents on how farmers can interact with students and nutrition staff to show how food is produced. Derouin has also helped expand staff development opportunities and has improved the onboarding process. Her financial leadership has grown fund balances in the districts she has worked in allowing for kitchen equipment updates as well as increased scratch cooking and menu expansion. Over the past 13 years, she has conducted regional workshops for upwards of 200 professionals and has written manuals on HACCP and school food safety, farm-to-school, and standardized recipes that have been shared with more than 100 Minnesota schools.