A cool assignment: Spring Forest Middle school students engineer Blue Bell Ice Cream flavors
When thinking about ice cream and Texas… What comes to mind? For Ms. Ami Rapp and the students in her Spring Forest Middle School (SFMS) Applied Problem-Solving class, it’s Blue Bell Ice Cream!
First, students surveyed their peers and teachers through surveys to see what flavors of ice cream they would like to see Blue Bell produce. Once the results were in, students were challenged to create their own flavor of ice cream that would meet the need in the community. Leading up to the highly anticipated taste testing, students voted on which ice cream flavors were the best of the best.
On October 25, the ice cream flavors with the highest ratings were made for a tasting panel. These flavors included Grimace Swirl, Cookie Brownie Crunch, Brownie Cheesecake Swirl, Refreshing Cherry Limeade, Black Boba Tea, Oreo Surprise, Christmas Cinnamon Cookie Swirl and more.
The tasting panels, a different combination of SBISD administrators and SFMS teachers each class period, tasted all of the flavors and then gave feedback as to what they enjoyed the most about each flavor. The tasting panel was also led entirely by the students in each class period.
From a greeter at the door to various moderators, students demonstrated their Collaborative Spirit to ensure the ice cream tasters had a great time! The entire experience was a powerful way for students to get a glimpse into the work and real-world problem solving that takes place inside a professional corporate organization like Blue Bell.
Now, Ms. Rapp and the class plan to send the winning flavor to Blue Bell’s product development team to see if they like it enough to produce a few gallons of it!