Isabelle VanZanten gives WDS a SPARK as new Food Service Director
With SPARK Award, the district is one of five Michigan organizations that will receive grants up to $200,000 per year.
BY SCOTT DECAMP
Whitehall District Schools
Isabelle VanZanten has hit the ground running as Whitehall District Schools’ new Food Service Director.
She’s received a bit of a spark, you might say. In June, VanZanten and the district received some great news, as WDS was named a SPARK Award winner.
With the award, WDS is one of five Michigan organizations that will receive grants up to $200,000 per year from the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub to expand access to food that reflects the region’s rich agricultural heritage and supports local economies.
Per a release, the Whitehall grantee team’s collaborative project is titled, “Grow a Salad Bar, Produce a Meal!” This project merges agriscience with food service to transform students into the architects of a circular food system that replaces processed goods with fresh, scratch-cooked nutrition.
VanZanten admitted that the process of WDS being considered for the SPARK Award began well before her tenure, but she’s grateful and excited nonetheless.
“I think it’s a really big thing for our students, especially our FFA program,” said VanZanten, who began her role with WDS in May. “There’s a lot more learning that they’ll be able to do, specifically for us in food service. It gives us the opportunity to hear more of their voices on menu items and teaching them how meal components go into it.”
VanZanten and WDS officially kicked off its Youth Food Council on Sept. 22. She and Elissa Penczar, food systems coordinator for Career and Technical Education (CTC) in Muskegon, spoke with Nick Verbanic’s advisory class at Whitehall High School introducing what the SPARK Award is and plans for a Youth Food Council.
This gave VanZanten and Penczar the opportunity to inform students and excite them about the grant itself.
“Students brainstormed how a Youth Food Council can excite other Whitehall students in eating more local, less processed food,” VanZanten said. “Students have gotten excited about getting to have a voice and participate in something that impacts our school.
“We have hopes for the building of the Hoop House and establishing growing spaces for FFA soon along with planning what they want to grow in those spaces to put in the salad bar in the future. So much more to come – we are just getting started.”
According to Penczar, the award recognizes innovative work and dedication of the WDS community to create a healthier, more resilient school food system.
Penczar added that this project places Whitehall at the forefront of a movement occurring at state, regional, and federal levels to improve the school food system, creating a healthier environment for students, families, and the community.
“For the newly launched (CTE) FFA program at Whitehall and the new food service director, this award launches the type of work that other districts only dream of and ensures that Whitehall’s programs and its students are recognized for their creativity, ingenuity, and commitment,” Penczar said.
Not so long ago, VanZanten, a 2019 Montague alumna, was a student of Penczar’s in the CTC program. Penczar is proud of her former pupil and said that WDS is setting a “gold standard” in providing impactful career development through strong school, business, and community collaboration.
VanZanten was a student of Penczar for two years in the Hospitality and Food Management Program at CTC. VanZanten earned a degree from Ferris State University in 2023.
“What I remember most about Isabelle is that when she entered, she was uncertain of her career path and had a hard time seeing herself in a traditional culinary-focused role,” Penczar said. “That all changed one day when we took her class to tour lodging operations, including a bed-and-breakfast, a small inn, and a full service hotel. I will never forget the look on her face in the hotel lobby when she turned to me and my colleague and said, ‘This is it! I want to work in a place like this!’ She finally saw herself in a place and understood that her future could look like that.
“Her commitment to guest service, providing gold-star experiences, and dedication to continuous improvement has been the hallmark of her work ever since. I am so thrilled that she is able to bring to Whitehall those tremendous qualities and her unbridled enthusiasm for making the best possible student experiences.”
Penczar added it’s been an “honor and a delight” to mentor VanZanten in her hospitality and school food journey, and to now be able to work with her as a colleague in such “incredible, innovative” programming is a wish come true.
Penczar said she can’t wait to see not only how amazing the SPARK Award goes with VanZanten’s leadership, but also how the entire conversation around school food, food literacy, and local food will continue to grow and transform WDS.
VanZanten is very grateful to everybody at WDS for giving her the opportunity to be part of the team as Food Service Director and to follow her passion.
“I have been loving my role as Food Service Director in Whitehall,” she said. “Being able to impact students through school meals is so rewarding: Knowing that each day they are not only getting options to choose from that they may not have at home, but those options are showing them what a healthy meal looks like.”
“While they may not realize all of the meal component planning that goes into their school breakfast or lunch, I still get to see them enjoying the food and that will always put a smile on my face.”
