By Stefanie Claypoole

Even though we are currently celebrating our centennial year, Church Farm School remains relatively unknown within Chester County. Five years ago, we were looking for more opportunities and venues where our students could interact with the public, so they could see firsthand the amazing young men we are educating every day. The West Chester Rotary’s Chili Cook-Off stood out as a fun, family-friendly event held in service of a great cause. We started thinking about what would make us stand out among the more than 70 other competing teams, and we decided the answer was in our heritage. For almost 60 years when we were a working farm, supporters of our mission received Scrapple every Christmas in thanks for their donations. We thought Scrapple would make a fine chili ingredient, and working together with our school’s caterer, Sodexo, our “Scrapple-licious Church Farm Chili” recipe was born.

We were proud (and exhausted) from our first foray into competitive chili-making in 2015, despite leaving empty-handed. We were awed by the friendliness of the Rotary volunteers, the kindness of other teams who lent us supplies and encouragement and we were thrilled to meet so many individuals who wanted to learn more about our school.

Year two started off almost tragically. When we convened in the Dining Center kitchen at 6:30 AM to prep the chili, we discovered that the key to Sodexo’s office (which harbored the keys to the vehicle loaded with most of our supplies and other essentials for the event) would not work. We called maintenance staff who tried to talk us through the process over the phone to no avail. We debated scaling a very large wall to climb in the office window. Ultimately, we huffed and we puffed and we broke that door down. We arrived at the venue with mere minutes available to unload and setup for the day. That was the year we won the People’s Choice Award for the first time. It was a glorious finish to an arduous day.

Even though the group of students we bring each year changes, by 2017 we felt like old pros at the Cook-Off. As they do each year, our 12th-graders engaged attendees, eager to share details about their Church Farm School life, their college ambitions and their off-the-cuff chili chants. Sodexo and the students knocked it out of the park last October, and we were so proud to not only receive the “People’s Choice” award, but the even more prestigious Nonprofit Division award, too.

We are eagerly anticipating our fourth event, and whether we are able to secure a “three-peat” or not, what’s more important to us is supporting the Rotary’s work, and securing our place in Chester County as a beautiful, historic school that has been changing the trajectory of young men’s lives for 100 years. If you’d like to see for yourself, click here to schedule a campus tour or attend one of the many free events that are open to the public.

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Stefanie Claypoole is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Church Farm School, a college preparatory school in Exton serving boys in grades 9-12.

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