Thank My Lucky Stars I Am NOT In High School Anymore

High school students are a tough crowd.

I gave the same presentation 5 times today. In a row.

By the end of the presentations I was sick of hearing myself speak.

OK, by the end of the FIRST one I was sick of hearing myself speak.

But it was for a good cause-spreading the news about what the Pork Industry is doing and about our yummy (lean) products! It’s really difficult to hold the attention of a bunch of students that didn’t know, don’t care and probably will never care about where their food comes from though.

Especially since cell phones are now allowed. Snap-chatting, twitter, texting, and everything else I spend a lot of time doing as well, will always be more interesting than a short white girl telling you sometimes crazy facts about pork production and then telling you how pork can easily replace chicken in any recipe.

And what’s up with these backpacks? Apparently they are all the rage. I think they would just get all my binders wet. Am I too old? Can you consider yourself old at 23 almost 24? Eh I’m going to.

And asking questions to engage the audience? Uh uh. No No.

If I wasn’t a poor grad student I would have given the kids who answered my questions some sort of fantastic prize. A life in the day of a grad student? Never mind that would be a terrible prize. A trip to Disney World? Free Krispy Kreme donuts for a year? How about some bacon band-aids? (I could actually afford to give those out!) Or maybe bacon anything.

It’s important to remember that the way high school students act is not a reflection on your skills as a human being. They are high school students, most haven’t been exposed to how terribly harsh the real world is yet. Poor dears.

After being largely ignored for the day, I decided it would probably be the best idea to just simply go in and cook with these kids. Show them first-hand what you can make with pork and the importance of pork as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Turns out there are OMS speakers who actually do this, but there are a lot of factors involved like does the school have a teaching kitchen, timing, and most of all who is going to pay for the meat and meals? Mostly I was just happy to see that other people were unsatisfied with their impact on the Nutrition and Culinary High School students and thought cooking and eating were a great alternative.

Cooking and eating are always a great alternative to anything right?

So the conclusion I have come to today is that I may have gotten through to some students. And others will only remember me as the girl that wore ugly shoes. Or a weird shirt. Or the girl who liked pigs (and cattle and crops…don’t worry I mentioned a lot of things besides pigs) way too much. But at least I tried. And will continue to try and be a good representative for the Pork Board’s Operation Main Street program.

After a day of talking about pork production and the cuts of pork, I was starving. So what did I come home and eat? You guessed it…A PORK CHOP!

You’re jealous now aren’t you? Here’s the recipe for the pork chop…it was absolutely delicious. The taters were a given side since I could live on meat and taters. Forever. Literally. The beans (with bacon…yummm) were added because Mom said I needed a vegetable and that was literally all I had in my house. I don’t eat green vegetables. Unless I absolutely have to. And usually when they are covered in butter. And cheese. I know, I know, they are good for me. I just have a hard time with them.

So this post goes out to all the high school teachers out there. Thank heavens I do not do what you do. I will stick to my pigs. Because even though my pigs might happily chew on my feet (or any other part they could get ahold of), I know it’s not out of a malicious desire to hurt me. They are just curious. And hungry. Always hungry.

Here’s to another Hump Day! It’s been real. Laters.