An Udderly Amazing Adventure at Gillette Stadium

We had a blast at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough yesterday at the Dairy Innovation Challenge! We were lucky enough to bring a team from Dupont School to experience this unique and informative event.

The day started with a photo shoot with Pat the Patriot, followed by some dairy trivia (who knew cows could smell so far?!) and a rotation of activities to help us learn more about dairy farming and nutrition. We enjoyed hearing from Kies Orr, a dairy farmer at Fort Hill Farms in CT, who showed us some of the different components of a cow's diet.  At lunch time, dairy took center stage in the amazing spread. We treated ourselves to creamy mac and cheese, and whipped up some fun concoctions at the milk flavor bar. And let's not forget the chocolate chip cookies, perfect for dunking!

After lunch, it was time for the students to buckle down to the challenge -- how do we get students to drink more milk in schools?! According to the New England Dairy Council, only 17% of students are getting 2 or more servings of dairy per day.  We heard some awesome presentations from schools across the state. Dupont student, Mariah, worked with a group from Worcester, coming up with the idea of a "Moo Mobile," or a wheeling cart featuring a variety of customizable dairy options. Way to go, Mariah!!

Once the presentations wrapped up, everyone got a behind-the-scenes look at Gillette stadium. The rain cleared up just in time for our tour, as we made our way through the corporate boxes, media box, clubhouse, and then down into the opposing team locker room. 

On the whole, we had a moonificent day learning and creating with teams from across the state. We're honored to have been selected to participate and hopefully we can add some innovative dairy items to our menus this year!