Keller, TX Middle-Schooler Combines Creativity and Good Nutrition to Conquer Sodexo’s Future Chefs: Healthy Breakfast Challenge

(3BL Media) Gaithersburg, MD - May 14, 2012 - Lorenzo Laohoo, 13, a seventh-grader from the Keller Independent School District in Texas, won the 2012 edition of Sodexo’s Future Chefs: Healthy Breakfast Challenge, a nationwide program that teaches students about good nutrition and encourages them to make healthy choices by creating their own nutritious breakfast recipes. Laohoo won the national challenge when the video for his Saturday Asian Breakfast received the most votes on the program’s YouTube page.

Students from 228 Sodexo-served schools across the country submitted more than 2,600 healthy breakfast recipes for the program. Laohoo and four others were selected to participate in the finals and all five students made videos of their award-winning recipes which were posted on http://www.youtube.com/user/SodexoFutureChefs.

Online voting was open for 10 days before Laohoo emerged as the winner. The videos were viewed more than 6,200 times over the 10-day period, bringing these amazing students and their fun, healthy and delicious breakfast recipes to a much broader audience.

“I’m proud to be the 2012 Future Chefs champion and I want to thank everyone who voted for my video,” said Lorenzo Laohoo. “I also thank God, my family, and the entire Keller community for supporting me.”

The four other students joining Laohoo in the national finals were:

• Gina DiRenzo, age 12 – Easton Area School District in Easton, Penn.
• Makayla Hildebrand, age 12 - Hockinson School District in Brush Prairie, Wash.
• Essence Perry, age 12 - Fitchburg Public School District in Fitchburg, Mass.
• Jordan Schmidt, age 14 – North Platte Public School District in North Platte, Neb.

“Congratulations to Lorenzo and the other finalists on a job well done throughout the Sodexo Future Chefs: Healthy Breakfast Challenge,” said Steve Dunmore, president of Sodexo Education-Schools. “I continue to be amazed by the students’ creativity and commitment to healthy eating, especially since good nutrition is a key contributor to achievement in both school and life.”

Sodexo Future Chefs was recently recognized by the National Restaurant Association as the winner of its Innovator of the Year Award in the Menu Development category at the 2012 NRA Show in Chicago.  The program was selected for the award because Sodexo features student-developed recipes from the challenge in K-12 nutrition programs across the country.

Sodexo, a partner in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, is committed to take measurable sustainable actions that ensure a brighter future in the areas of health and wellness, environmental stewardship and community development. Sodexo focuses on nutrition, achievement, environment, community and activity to promote student well-being.

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Sodexo Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, delivers On-site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government and Remote Site segments, and Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $17 million in grants to end childhood hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

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