A message from Charleen, our new Feeding the Future interest form, and a thank you to volunteers!
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Watermelon Wednesday
May 2026 Issue #20
A Message from Chef, Founder & Board President Charleen Badman
As we approach our 10th year of service to communities across Arizona, we’re sharing an important leadership update. Executive Director Jilliann Sundberg stepped down from her role on May 3rd to pursue a new opportunity focused on strengthening education systems in Northern Arizona.
We’re grateful for Jilliann’s leadership and the impact she has helped shape over the past decade.
Our Board of Directors is leading a thoughtful transition, including the appointment of an interim Executive Director, Ashley Schimke, and a search for our next leader. All programs and services will continue without interruption.
As we celebrate 10 years of impact, we remain confident in our staff, board, volunteers, and partners who bring this mission to life every day. Thank you for being part of this work—we look forward to continuing it together in this next chapter.
Charleen Badman
A Cut Above: Bringing the Best of the Farm to the Tray through Essential Knife Skills
We wrapped up April with a hands-on culinary skills workshop led by Chef Tamara Stanger and Sous Chef Alec Stoneburner. During this interactive session, attendees learned essential knife techniques and efficient ways to break down farm-fresh produce for use in school cafeterias. Participants also prepared four recipes aligned with school meal guidelines, designed to introduce students to vegetables in fun and delicious ways.
Mark your calendars! Our annual Feeding the Future culinary competition and fundraiser will take place on January 23, 2027. This exciting event brings together students, educators, local chefs, and school food professionals to create delicious, federally compliant recipes that students are eager to see in their cafeterias.
Interested in bringing this experience to your students? Fill out the 2027 Feeding the Future interest form to stay informed and learn more. Applications for student teams will open in August 2026.
Students participating in our April Chef in the Garden lesson got to learn from two of our program's very own site reps! This month's recipe featured Chef Noelle and her Fruit & Butter Amaranth Porridge. This recipe helped students learn the difference between measuring wet and dry ingredients while offering a creative approach to elevating a simple breakfast porridge. Gardener Kelly Hedberg taught us how to joyfully plant amaranth seeds and watch them grow into the summer months.
Click the button below to learn how to grow your own amaranth and use it in a delicious porridge!
Chef Noelle is the Food Service Director at The Gregory School in Tucson, Arizona, where she is also a Site Director with our Chef in the Garden program!
She is a former Food Service Director at Aspen Country Day School in Aspen, Colorado, where she also spent time as a Pastry Chef at The Little Nell.
Chef Noelle graduated from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute Le Cordon Bleu in 2006, and got her Bachelor’s in Nutrition from ASU in 2013.
She currently lives in Tucson with her two teenage sons, is an avid hiker and adventurer, and loves cheese!
Bio provided by Chef Noelle Zablosky
Kelly Hedberg is an outdoor educator with over sixteen years of teaching experience in gardens and outdoor settings in Phoenix, Arizona.
She spent her early teaching years at Desert Botanical Garden. It is here that she fell in love with the Sonoran Desert and realized the importance of a connection with nature for all youth. For six years she ran after-school garden programs (DIG IT! Outdoors) at community gardens, Montessori and public schools.
Since 2019, she has been employed as a Garden Integration Specialist at Rover Elementary School in Tempe overseeing "The Rover Vine" garden space and is grateful to spend her teaching hours outside.
Adapted from LinkedIn
Quote Corner
Check out what our students had to say about Chef Noelle's recipe!
"This is bus'in!" & "200 billion out of ten stars!"
-Tully Magnet Elementary
"I actually like it more than I thought I would and it has great protein to build muscle for after school softball."
-Joseph Zito Elementary
"I really liked the food, it was different. I like trying new things and it was just really good!"
-Barcelona Elementary
Thank you to our volunteers!
Thank you to the wonderful volunteers who make our work possible! We have had an incredible year serving more schools than ever before, and it wouldn't have been possible without each of you. Next school year will be spent celebrating 10 years of Blue Watermelon Project, and we can't wait for you to be a part of it!
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