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In recent weeks, the Greenwood Meadows challenged Bellwood-Antis’ Elementary School students to come up with a flavor of the day that could be severed in their shop.

Myers fourth grader Dylan Hescox was crowned the winner of this competition, and he named his new flavor “Chocobutter Blast.” It will be available on Wednesday, May 22. For winning the competition, Dylan was not only awarded by getting his flavor in the custard shop, but Meadows also sponsored him with a T-shirt and a $20 gift card to buy himself and all of his family members the flavor. 

Ms. Stevie Hoover was a student teacher in Myers Elementary’s fourth grade this year, and she had already worked at Meadows for six years. Ms. Hoover was inspired by a similar contest that took place in the Chambersburg Meadows, and decided to run the same idea for B-A’s fourth graders. The fourth-grade teachers and Myers Elementary’s Principal, Mr. Matthew Stinson, loved the idea. 

“I think that it was a great idea, a great way to get the students involved in the community, and the Meadows was very supportive and encouraging of our student teacher Stevie’s idea, and it was really something special that they got to do,” said Dylan’s mother and fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Hescox.

Mr. Stinson agreed that the idea was a hit.

“I thought it was an incredible moment for our students. It’s great to have the community, especially an organization like Meadows, allow our students to participate in that. They really enjoyed that, and I’m very blessed to have Ms. Hoover who gave us that opportunity. But a big shout out to Meadows, and a big thank you to them for including our students,” said Mr. Stinson.

Soon after suggesting the idea at Myers, Ms. Hoover took it to her boss, April Kissell, at Meadows April loved the idea, and then gave Stevie the “ok” to run with it. 

“When Stevie approached me with this idea, I was very happy to work with her.  I love getting the kids in our community involved with our business.  What better way than to have them come up with great new flavors,” said Kissell.

With everyone on board, the only thing left was to introduce the idea to the students. The excitement of possibly being the most famous fourth grader in Bellwood, led students to take a pencil and paper and create a flavor so brilliant that they could be the winner of the contest. On the paper, students first had to choose a base flavor of custard. Examples of flavors like chocolate and vanilla were the most popular. After a base flavor was chosen, students then could choose from an assortment of toppings. However, there were some limits when it came to the toppings. 

“The most toppings that they could have was three. There were some other restrictions like what wet toppings they could have, and what dry toppings they could have. Just because of actually making the flavors, there have to be certain toppings, or else it’ll be too wet to actually scoop,” said Ms. Hoover.

After students cut down their choices, they handed in their papers to Ms. Hoover. She made sure that they had the correct amount of toppings, and that it was not a recipe the Meadows currently has. Once approved, students then had to use their appropriate writing skills, taught by fourth grade teachers Mrs. Hescox and Mrs. Fisher, to come up with a piece of work that neatly described their choices. The students then would go on to submit their paragraphs along with their other pieces of creative custardness to Ms. Hoover, so that the papers could be given to April Kissell. 

A total of eight winners were chosen to be in the running for the winning flavor. Micco Quirin-Sneed, Paxton Harry, Vivian Loupe, Landon Hartman, Luke Stinson, McKenna Ortiz, and Brynn Adams were the other top students in the race. Two students were chosen from each homeroom, so that a good mix of fairness was provided to all. Then it came down to the decisions of Ms. Hoover and April Kissell to pick a winner.

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Jordan Hescox

Dylan poses with mother Mrs. Hescox

“So, something that would actually taste super good together had to have a creative name, and then the writing also had to be well done. Nice handwriting, well described, and kind of persuaded the owner of Meadows to pick their flavor,” said Ms. Hoover.

Fortunately for Dylan, April Kissel loved his idea. 

“I chose Dylan’s flavor because I liked both the name of the flavor and the ingredients he added to the chocolate custard.  Dylan was also very convincing in the written portion of the assignment,” said Kissell.

The tasteful yet creative name took to shine in Dylan’s creation.

“It’s a chocolate-based flavor with chocolate chips, Reese’s cups, and peanut butter syrup. I thought it would be a great idea and a lot of people like Reese’s cups,” said Dylan.

While being super excited to try his new flavor, Dylan enjoyed the idea sharing between his peers, and humbly admitted that was his favorite part of the project. 

“I liked that you got to hear other people’s ideas, and listen to all of the great flavors,” said Dylan. 

Another Meadows employee, Jake Mercer, is also excited to serve the flavor to customers.

“I think it’s a great idea by Stevie. It’s super cool for the students to give their ideas, and have fun with it. It will also probably be pretty good for business, so it’s beneficial to both parties,” said Jake Mercer.

It’s not certain if this contest will run in the future or not, but a successful night will show Meadows that they might just have a new hit on their hands. With fun between students, teachers, administrators, and the community, the hope of running the contest next year will remain in your hands, so go out and support Dylan’s Flavor and Meadows on Wednesday, May 22. 

The other top competitors’ flavors are listed in the infoboxes below.