Fairfield’s Stephanie Hawkins named Food Service Director of Year

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield Schools Food Service Director Stephanie Hawkins received a prestigious honor this month when she was named the Food Service Director of the Year for Iowa and for the Midwest.

Hawkins was announced as the Midwest region Director of the Year during an online awards ceremony on May 2 just before School Lunch Hero Day, celebrated on May 5. The accomplishments of Hawkins and all School Nutrition Award winners will also be highlighted in a special publication and promoted in SNA's annual Hero Day social media campaign on Facebook.com/TrayTalk and TrayTalk.org.

School Nutrition Association President Lori Adkins said Hawkins was richly deserving of this honor.

“Stephanie Hawkins understands a successful school nutrition program engages students and is visible in the community,” Adkins said. “She's a champion for her team and a great advocate for her students and program.”

Hawkins said she was overwhelmed when she learned she had been named Food Service Director of the Year.

“The people who know me know that I get emotional, and I cried, because it’s such a huge honor in my profession,” Hawkins said. “For me to be recognized among the food service professionals in my state and region was great because I know the hard work they do. I know each one of us do this because we have a passion for feeding kids. That the School Nutrition Association would choose me out of that vast group of directors was a truly humbling, a huge honor.”

Hawkins has been Fairfield’s food service director for seven years. She’s implemented a number of programs to get kids excited about school lunches, and one of those is the Senior Favorites Week Menu, which is being served this week. Hawkins sends a Google form to all the seniors, who list their favorite meals. She takes the top vote-getters and has the cooks prepare those meals during the seniors’ final week of school, which is this week.

Something else that Hawkins has implemented has been the addition of a cafe at the high school, and a smaller one at the middle school. The treats all fit within the district’s “Smart Snack” guidelines.

“This is an income stream we didn’t have before,” Hawkins said. “At the middle school, we try to keep the prices low so all the things only cost $1, so any child could get a snack if they wanted one.”

Hawkins said she would not have been able to receive the Food Service Director of the Year Award without the support of her staff. She makes sure that they are properly recognized, too, and does something special for them each day of School Lunch Hero Week, including making a meal for them. During Professional Development days, she meets with her staff to discuss what recipes have been well received, and which new ones the cooks would like to try. She especially loves to incorporate locally grown foods into a new dish.

“We got some sweet potatoes from a local farmer,” she said. “We peeled and roasted them, and the kids loved them. My staff are not just lunch ladies — they’re food service professionals, and they’re highly trained in what they do.”

When a cook is absent, Hawkins fills in whenever she can. Earlier this school year, one of the cooks suffered a heart attack, and that meant Hawkins helped in the high school kitchen for six weeks.

“I knew they worked hard, but after filling in for them in their spot, it gave me even more respect than I already had,” Hawkins said. “I would not have received this award without my incredible team.”

Hawkins is always looking for grant opportunities to bolster the nutrition that Fairfield students receive. She recently received a grant for $4,000 toward proteins and another $4,000 toward local produce.

“We’re working on how we’re going to put those into our recipes,” she said. “We have some new equipment like two smokers, so we’ll see what the best way is to provide proteins to our students.”

Hawkins said one of the grants allowed the district to purchase locally sourced cheese curds.

“We switched out our cheese sticks so now we use cheese curds, and the kids love them,” she said.

Hawkins said there are always challenges to face, such as new guidelines from the USDA. She traveled to Washington, D.C. in March to meet with federal legislators about a proposed nutrition change that would have ended chocolate milk in schools.

“I was asking the legislators not to support that,” she said. “It’s not because I don’t think sugars can’t be lowered, it’s because if we don’t give kids chocolate milk, they won’t drink milk because that’s the only milk they drink. My concern is that we’ll have a generation of students with osteoporosis.”

Hawkins remarked that the school district’s lunch fund is now in good financial shape, and that her whole team deserves credit for that.

“I love the Fairfield school district and how they have allowed me to think outside the box,” she said. “I am nothing without my team. They allow me to try my crazy ideas for the betterment of the kids. I’m so thankful that they took a chance on me seven years ago.”

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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