Mike & Vicki: Our November Seafood Heroes are the Dynamic Duo of RSU 12

SNS Director Mike Flynn and CN Lead Vicki Dill are instrumental in Maine's Farm & Sea to School work, both in their own schools and more broadly in the state.

Cafeteria, Classroom, and Community

Folks involved in Maine's Farm & Sea to School efforts will be familiar with the 3 C's that are critical to the success of this work: cafeteria, classroom, and community. Yes, it's an incredible feat to get locally-sourced food on a school menu. However, the impact of that effort is made all the more significant when the cafeteria experience is connected to the classroom as well as to the community. No one exemplifies the successful implementation of the 3 C's better than Mike Flynn and Vicki Dill of RSU 12 who are constantly showing their students not only what local food is, but where it comes from, who it comes from, and how it ends up on their plates. When students and their families learn about food systems collectively and holistically, there is a much greater participation in and enthusiasm for healthy, local school lunches.

This week's heroes are constantly impressing us with their creativity, passion, and commitment to sharing their love of local foods with their students.

• Just last week, Vicki planned and hosted a “Thank a Fisherman” day at Whitefield Elementary. Students dined on local seafood dishes (like crispy baked haddock sandwiches and monkfish corn chowder), learned about different species in the Gulf of Maine, and got to meet and talk with Boothbay-area groundfish fisherman Devyn Campbell. Eating local fish while chatting with a real life fisherman who may have caught the very food on your plate is a hugely impactful experience for young eaters, and their reaction was one of resounding enthusiasm both for the baked fish and for Devyn himself.

  
  

  

• Despite RSU 12 being a small district (65th in size for the state of Maine with only 876 students), they rank 7th for receiving the most seafood through MCFA’s Fishermen Feeding Mainers program. This is due to Mike’s extreme commitment to serving quality local food to his students. Mike regularly picks up local fish in Portland and delivers it not only to his schools' cafeterias, but also to surrounding districts who otherwise wouldn't be able to access fresh seafood.

  
  

• RSU 12 has always been eager and willing to help MCFA out as we pilot new value-added seafood products. They were among the first to sample the new Graffam Bros flounder fishcakes and tots as well as Hurricane's pollock soup and monkfish corn chowder. Sampling these products with their students gave us incredibly valuable feedback as we honed in on several great dishes for K-12 schools.

  
  

• You can also regularly catch Mike and Vicki generously sharing their expertise at trainings that MCFA co-hosts with GMRI. Mike is a pro at demonstrating how to safely handle seafood and how to process and cook unfamiliar species from the Gulf of Maine. His willingness to share his knowledge has meant that more and more nutrition staff have become comfortable with cooking local fish in their cafeterias.

Our hats are off to Mike and Vicki who so clearly inspire their students and their staff with their deep commitment to and love for local foods. They are changing our understanding of what school food can and should be.