Vote for Dakota! Shelby student is finalist in national cooking competition

SHELBY — Shelby Middle School eighth grader Dakota Springer is in the running to win a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for his school, and he needs your vote.

Dakota was chosen as one of the 25 finalists in the Ben’s Beginners Cooking Contest, a national contest which promotes cooking healthy meals at home.

Parents with children in grades K-8 were invited to submit a home video of them preparing a rice-based dish with their child and discuss their experience cooking together.

Dakota now needs the community’s help to become one of this year’s five winners. The five grand prize winners, who are partially determined by how many online votes they receive, each win $15,000 cash; a hometown celebration; and a $30,000 makeover for their school cafeteria.

“We are very excited here at Shelby Public Schools,” said Shelby Public Schools Food Service Director Mary Rose Vanas. “We now have to rally the community and get them to vote for Dakota. Please help us get a new cafeteria makeover.”

Go to www.unclebens.com to vote for Dakota’s video, “Uncle Ben’s Super Brown Rice Wrap/Roulade.” You can search by first name or recipe title to find the video.