It was a simple idea that led Kellie Mitchell to teach 20 Anchorage elementary school students how to cook.
Mitchell, a first-grade teacher at Kasuun Elementary School and a mother of three, said she had the idea when she noticed more of her students -- across all income levels -- were fending for themselves after school. Some were even being asked to make dinner.
"We wanted to give kids ideas for nutritious meals," she said.
So Mitchell collaborated with health teacher Karen Bronga to set up an after-school cooking club for students grades three through six at Kasuun, in an economically mixed neighborhood south of the University Medical District.
Over the course of four afternoons this school year, Mitchell, Bronga and several parent helpers have led the students through simple recipes: chicken quesadillas, lasagna, fried rice and chicken wraps. The last two were dishes picked by the students.
Bronga said the class is a chance for kids to learn to be safe in the kitchen. Some of the students already have experience cooking -- enough that parents trust them to use the stove at home. Others are starting from zero.
For example, Bronga said in the first class, where students learned to make quesadillas, one student couldn't figure out how to use a cheese grater, pushing the cheese back and forth against the utensil instead of up and down.
"It's the simple stuff," she said. "Like learning how to be safe."
An $800 grant from the Alaska Arts and Health Parent Teacher Student Association covers the food costs. Bronga scoured several school district home economics classrooms to borrow electric skillets and found dollar-store measuring cups and spatulas to complete the cooking kits. After each class, the students get to bring home a meal for four.
Bronga said home economics courses are on the decline across the district. But despite that, there's clearly desire for programs like the cooking club. Classes filled up so quickly Bronga had to cut off registration early.
Reporting for class
Just after the school bell rang, 20 students filed into Bronga's health classroom, grabbing folders full of recipes and settling in for a lecture on how to make a snack.
"Reporting for duty," Bronga joked as the kids walked in an orderly line. "Your duty is to make dinner!"
Backpacks were draped in a row against the front of the room. One stood out among them: Sterling Power's giant hamburger backpack.
Sterling says he's a huge food lover, hence the backpack. His mom, Candice, a second-grade teacher at Kasuun and a helper in the snack class, said Sterling wants to be a food critic when he grows up. She said he's already a gifted chef who usually spends all of Sunday cooking meals for his family.
But as Sterling stirred a cup of mixed vegetables into a bit of bacon grease, he admitted he'd never made fried rice before.
"And I love fried rice," he said.
Zahrie Garcia and Cassie Keaton, who are both 8, took turns gently stirring bacon as fat rendered in their skillet. Zahrie had helped make fried rice once, but Cassie had never made it before.
"I've never even made bacon before," she said. "Well, once. In the microwave."
As the girls worked, Bronga checked on them.
"That's looking good," she told the girls. "Do you want me to dribble some of the grease out to make it healthy?"
Both girls nodded, checking the recipe for the next step while they waited for Bronga to return.
Natalie Wade, 9, sat a few tables over, cracking eggs into a bowl. It took her a few extra smacks to get one egg to crack open, but she managed, dumping the contents into a small plastic bowl to whisk with a fork. Candice Powers came over to double-check her work.
"Oh no, an eggshell fell in," she told Natalie. "Sometimes that happens."
Powers handed her a spoon and instructed Natalie to get it. After a little finessing, she triumphantly scooped the piece out.
"Yay!" she exclaimed, sliding the piece of shell onto a paper towel.
Later, standing next to her full dish of finished fried rice, Natalie said she loves to cook -- especially helping her mother make pancakes.
But last weekend, the two decided to make quesadillas using the recipe Natalie learned at cooking club. She said they went back and forth with the work, but her mother let Natalie lead the way.
"It's really fun," she said. "It's probably going to be a moment I'll remember."