Meet the 2025 ISBE School Nutrition Champion!
The Illinois State Board of Education Nutrition Department is excited to announce the 2025 ISBE School Nutrition Champion. This year’s award goes to Laura Goemaat, food service manager in Carmi-White County CUSD 5, where she has worked since 2016 in various roles.
Her responsibilities include employee onboarding, purchasing, transportation logistics, and communication with staff and families. As food service manager, she oversees the school breakfast and lunch programs, processes free and reduced meal applications, handles claims for reimbursement, and ensures compliance with state and federal regulations. She also leads menu creation and supports wellness policy reviews and administrative audits.
Her nominator stated: “Her willingness to try new things, her enthusiasm for connecting students with local food, and her deep commitment to community make her stand out.” … “Her efforts go far beyond routine responsibilities — she’s building a stronger, more connected food system in our schools, one meal and one student at a time.”
Some of the best practices and accomplishments highlighted that are credited to Laura’s hard work include:
- Laura took on an expanded role this past school year by serving as the farm to school coordinator. In this position, she organized the Harvest of the Month program, coordinated taste tests, and led local food procurement efforts across multiple school districts in the region.
- She helped implement a taste test comparing frozen local corn to canned corn across three school districts, sparking excitement among students and staff. They also conducted a taste test featuring traditional harvest stew versus sweet potato and apple soup, allowing students to vote on the recipe to be prepared in bulk for the upcoming fall season. This student engagement approach has added a fun, educational element to school meals and has increased buy-in across the board.
- Laura is leading a plan to freeze local vegetable soup ingredients to be used in the winter when fresh Illinois-grown produce is limited. This long-term planning ensures the district can highlight local agriculture year-round.
- Laura designs colorful posters to spotlight local farmers and captures joyful photos of students participating in monthly events. These visuals bring the program to life and help tell the story of local food in schools in a vibrant, relatable way.
“Her deep understanding of district operations and strong work ethic make her an asset in every role she fills. Her dedication, professionalism, and creativity have been especially impactful in our regional farm to school efforts. Her qualifications reflect her professional excellence and commitment to serving students and supporting her school district in multiple ways.”
- 2024: Michele Hepner, the food service director for Geneseo CUSD 228.
- 2023: Katie Ford, the head cook for Shawnee Community Unit School District 84 in Wolf Lake.
- 2022: Steve Ebbesmeyer, the food service director for Belleville District 118; Darla Kasperek, a food service bookkeeper/administrative assistant for Rich Township High School District 227; and Mary Nowak, the kitchen manager at Whiteside Middle School, Whiteside School District 115
- 2019: Angie Benedict, the head cook at Highland Elementary School in Stillman Valley, Meridian Community Unit School District 223
- 2018: Sandy Voss, director of Food and Nutrition Services for Marquardt School District 15 in Glendale Heights
