Southampton Students Create NY's Best Mac and Cheese

Southampton is known for having the nation’s best beaches, best parties, and now, the best macaroni and cheese in New York State.

That’s because Southampton Intermediate School students — on a team dubbed the Mac Island Mariners — won first place in the middle school division of the inaugural Cornell University New York Agriculture in the Classroom Mac and Cheese Challenge.

“The students worked consistently hard and gave 100% effort throughout this project,” said Christina Duryea, culinary arts and family and consumer science teacher at the school. “I am incredibly proud of their dedication, creativity and teamwork.”

The competition featured more than 250 submissions from across the Empire State, but the Mac Island Mariners stood out from the rest with their original recipe for mac and cheese chicken pot pie. The team created a custom T-shirt inspired by a fishing theme as a part of the marketing component of the contest, school officials said.

While researching their award-winning recipe, the students visited Mecox Bay Dairy Farm, where they learned about dairy farming and the milking process and participated in a nutrition workshop.

The eighth-grade students on the winning team were Cole Collins, Gabe Galvis Mejia, Chris Glorioso, Kiran Hedge, Charlie Holle, Bryce McGowin, Edwin Pina Bonilla, Luka Pisano, Kabir Vivanco, Matthew Vivanco and Read Wilutis.