Valerie Dowell

School Nutrition Foundation Member Award-SNIC 2026 

Years in School Nutrition: 11 years

Students Served: 5,000

Super Bakery’s 22 Seconds Society in Memory of Franco Harris  first time attendee scholarship

“ I hope to carry this spirit of support forward by positively impacting future students and be able to give back one day myself to other directors.”

Why School Nutrition? 

I have been a Food Service Director for 3 years and love school nutrition so much. I truly think it is the best job ever and my goal is to support everyone I can and empower them to fulfill their purpose. This scholarship means so much to me because it gave me the opportunity to see the full circle of how many different groups of people it takes to connect to be able to serve healthy AND great tasting food to students. This conference showed me just how many great people are throughout the United States all trying to do their best with feeding students in their hearts!

Bringing It Back to My District

How important it is to be adaptable in life and in our careers.

The Impact of This Scholarship

This conference was very meaningful because I was able to connect with manufacturers, state agencies, listen to USDA, and get inspired from other directors. Having all of these people together made for the best conversations on what really needs to happen for school nutrition in the future. I was inspired how many people care so deeply about school nutrition and want to keep growing for the students. We all want to do the right thing and it feels good to be surrounded by that.