This morning, Milwaukee Public Schools announced an ice cream making contest in collaboration with the Bartolotta Restaurant Group, with which it has a shared culinary arts partnership.
Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield will be one of four judges in the competition, slated for Friday, Jan. 20 at James Madison Academic Campus, located at 8135 W. Florist Ave., from noon until 3 p.m.
The other judges are MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver, Bartolotta's Jennifer Bartolotta and Madison principal Gregory Ogunbowale.
The fun and educational competition is part of ProStart, a culinary arts program implemented with Bartolotta Restaurant Group in four MPS high schools – Bay View, James Madison, Vincent and Washington – to help provide students with career readiness skills they can apply in jobs in the restaurant and hospitality industries.
Six ProStart high school students will take part in the contest, in which each will have to create and submit two unique ice creams that will be judged on their texture, flavor, creativity and presentation, according to an MPS news release.
The winners' flavors will then be featured on the menu at Bartolotta's Osgood's restaurant in the Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa – a venue that typically serves frozen custard; just sayin' – in February.
"Through continued partnerships with successful businessmen like Jerry, we are thrilled to continue to teach our young adults in the ProStart program all of the opportunity that lies before them if they want to make hospitality a career," said Bartolotta in the news release today.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
