GORHAM, Maine — Fifth graders in the gifted and talented (GT) program at Village Elementary School in Gorham are working on a project to learn what it takes to run a business.
Mow's Munchies came to help out.
The teacher of the gifted and talented program, Christine Karcanes, was there to experience this opportunity with the students.
"They are each making their own food truck, business plan, advertising, using their own recipes, and working with fractions," Karcanes said. "At the end of this project—we are just starting it—they will make a 3D model of their own food truck and present it to their class."
Mow's Munchies let the students take a tour of the food truck, learn some tricks in the kitchen, and give them advice on their own projects.
"My one suggestion to you when you start a truck is to make sure you have something that's your own," the owner of Mow's Munchies, Kate Dargie, said. "We have our own homemade Mow's sauce, you want things that'll draw people in that they can't go buy at the store.
The students raved about how great the food was. One student said his favorite part was turning a raw potato into fresh french fries.
The students had to test into the GT program and receive teacher recommendations. The program is aimed at enriching their learning experience by using real-world scenarios.
What better way to make math come alive for the students than by having a food truck come to the school?
This is Dargie's first year owning a food truck. What makes her business different is that her menu is not only for people but for pets, too.
"We have a dog named Mowgli, hence Mow's Munchies ... One of the things we wanted was we like to take him everywhere and we thought, 'Wow, there's not enough things to do or places to take animals,' so then we started this," Dargie said. "We thought, 'Why don't we have food for dogs so when they are hanging out with their owners they can have a tasty treat, too.'"
The food truck business is working on making homemade dog bones this year.
Dargie challenged the fifth graders to come up with their own burger recipe to cook up in their fictitious food trucks, and if it's really good, she'll put it up on her menu board for everyone to enjoy.