Meet the 2024 ISBE School Nutrition Champion!
The Illinois State Board of Education Nutrition Department is excited to announce the 2024 ISBE School Nutrition Champion. This year’s award goes to
Michele Hepner. She has served as the food service director in
Geneseo CUSD 228 for the past 16 years.
Hepner was nominated by Dr. Adam Brumbaugh, the district superintendent, and Tim Gronski, the chief school business official. In their nominating submission, they wrote:
“Michele works tirelessly for the students, staff, and the district. Michele serves as the chair of the local school district food cooperative. She also organizes the meetings and training for all food service personnel. She is always willing to jump in and help at any building at any time when staffing is short. Throughout the year, buildings will have special meals, dress-up days, and events to make lunchtime special for all students and staff.”
Some of the best practices and accomplishments highlighted credited to Michele’s hard work and leadership include:
- Michele worked closely with Geneseo Middle School’s head cook, Bonnie Myers, to secure supplies for a “Garden Bar.” Creating the bar involved lots of research and obtaining pans that could be used for fresh-cut vegetables. This has helped with meal prep times and it is also very well received by the student population.
- Michele helped implement a “Snack Pack” at Geneseo Middle School. This provides students who are traveling to away sporting events with the option to purchase a pack filled with three items that are snack compliant and help to fuel the athlete so they can perform to the best of their ability.
- Michele hosts a monthly meeting for food service managers in a co-op for purchasing food products. This involves getting representatives from different food manufacturers to sample their products to find new food items that students like to eat. The goal is to increase student participation in the meal programs.
- Michele makes sure there are special celebrations for such events as National School Breakfast Week and National School Lunch Week.
- Every year, Michele conducts a unit meeting in which all food service employees attend to review the requirements for school breakfast and lunch. She also ensures that all schools follow the same set of rules for preparing and serving food and cleaning up their kitchens.
“Michele is a great listener and when problems arise, she tries to resolve them in the best outcome for all involved. She is willing to jump in and help in any role, whether that is driving our delivery truck or filling in at a school.”
Previous winners of ISBE's School Nutrition Champion Award are:
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2023: Katie Ford, the head cook for
Shawnee Community Unit School District 84 in Wolf Lake.
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2022: Steve Ebbesmeyer, the food service director for
Belleville District 118;
Darla Kasperek, a food service bookkeeper/administrative assistant for
Rich Township High School District 227; and
Mary Nowak, the kitchen manager at Whiteside Middle School,
Whiteside School District 115
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2019: Angie Benedict, the head cook at Highland Elementary School in Stillman Valley,
Meridian Community Unit School District 223
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2018: Sandy Voss, director of Food and Nutrition Services for
Marquardt School District 15 in Glendale Heights
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2017: Sandra Duniphan, the cafeteria manager for
Pontiac-William Holliday School District 105 in Fairview Heights
