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May 26, 2023

Sioux Center Christian remodels kitchen

Sioux Center Christan School third-grade student Tyler Hoogendoorn says yes to sweet potato fries Monday, Aug. 28, being served by cook Thao Haugstad in the new serving line area. SIOUX CENTER—Sioux

Sioux Center Christan School third-grade student Tyler Hoogendoorn says yes to sweet potato fries Monday, Aug. 28, being served by cook Thao Haugstad in the new serving line area.

SIOUX CENTER—Sioux Center Christian School students enjoyed the first meal out of the school’s renovated kitchen on Monday.

Though the school, which serves transitional kindergarten through eighth-grade students, started Wednesday, Aug. 23, students brought sack lunches those first three days of the 2023-24 school year to give time for school staff to put the finishing touches on the $1.25 million project as well as have the health inspector and fire marshall to give their stamp of approval.

“It’s exciting to be at this point,” said director of operations and food service Eileen Buiter. “This project had a lot of little things come up, but seeing it all put together it’s been so worth it. The kitchen was in need of an update and it’s exciting that it’s complete now.”

Sioux Center Christian School second-grade student Asher Foreman receives his lunch from lunch server Jen Kirkbride through the new serving line Monday, Aug. 28.

The original kitchen dated back to the early 1990s.

“It was time for an update. We had a kitchen that was really tired and we wanted a good place for our cooks to work in,” said head of school Josh Bowar. “Our cooks are very focused on helping kids have nutritious meals as that definitely adds to their learning experience and we wanted to provide a proper space for our staff to work as that leads to a positive lunch experience and lunch is a big part of a student’s day. We want to have a great lunch experience because that leads to learning.”

The cost of the kitchen remodel project is included in the school’s $14.7 million expansion proposal that’s in the fundraising stages. However, the school’s Board of Trustees approved the 2,000-square-foot renovation of the kitchen to start ahead of the rest of the expansion project due to code compliance issues.

“The biggest concern was that the floor in the freezer was heaving; it was up about 5 inches in the center, so we needed to make some changes,” Buiter said. “The whole kitchen area was really tired and in need of an update to continue to better serve our growing student base.”

Hoogendoorn Construction of Canton, SD, served as the general contractor for the project that started May 22, the last week of the 2022-23 school year, which required students to take sack lunches the last week of school as well.

Work this summer took the Sioux Center Christian School kitchen down to its studs and a dirt floor during which shallow footings were found and corrected before a new concrete floor could be poured.

The goals for the project were to bring the school’s kitchen up to code compliance, upgrade equipment and improve flow and functionality for serving 500-600 people daily. Monday saw 548 students alone use the cafeteria, most of whom had hot lunch.

Buiter said when she started in her role 16 years ago the school had about 375 students.

“With our growing student base, we’ve needed to use our kitchen differently and have more room,” Buiter said. “Doing this renovation created a better functioning space and will meet our school’s needs for a few decades to come.”

Before, the kids’ line would go into the kitchen to be served. A load-bearing wall on the west side of the lunchroom was cut into and a steel beam put in place to make four windows for the student serving line.

Work took the kitchen down to its studs and a dirt floor during which shallow footings were found and corrected before a new concrete floor could be poured.

Another surprise, Buiter said, is that mid-summer the kitchen project flooded after a rain.

“What had happened, and we may not have known if we hadn’t done the renovation, is that our roof drain had detached from the pipe,’ Buiter said. “We ended up replacing a north wall that had been getting wet over the years that wasn’t known about and now we have it fixed.”

Some space was gained inside the kitchen area as a cooler and freezer were added on to the west of the kitchen.

“Before we had to walk into the cooler to get to the freezer; that caused a work flow issue with our kitchen staff,” Buiter said.

Sioux Center Christian School students enjoyed the first meal out of the school’s renovated kitchen at the start of the second week of school Monday, Aug. 28

The lunchroom servers also gained more space in which to work by having the student lunch line remain in the cafeteria.

Before, the kids’ line would go into the kitchen to be served. A load-bearing wall was cut into and a steel beam put in place to make four windows for the student serving line.

Another window was cut into the north concrete block wall to create a new tray return area.

While the dishwasher still needed some work requiring the use of paper plates Monday, all the other needed equipment was in place and in functioning order and all the food needed was on hand.

“It’s really exciting to be able to give the people who work under me this space to work in, which is going to function so much better for their needs and for the kids too,” Buiter said. “This is going to be a great space for many years to come.”

FUNDRAISING UPDATE

Sioux Center Christian School is in the fundraising stages of its $14.7 million expansion project. The centerpiece of the project is the Blazer Center — a multipurpose space to be used for chapel, performing arts, athletics and as a gathering space. Along the west and south of this space includes the addition of six new seventh- and eighth-grade classroom spaces, a pair of bathrooms and two team spaces. Together this will add a little more than 27,000 square feet of new space to the south of the school’s existing gym.

Construction will also include renovating part of the seventh- and eighth-grade wing and existing gym lobby into a larger, open space to be used as a study and group project area, student gathering space, lobby space for events and a provide a concessions/service kitchen area.

The school is working with 10Fold Architecture + Engineering of Ames for the project.

The school has raised $7.7 million for the project and is seeking to reach $9 million before it can begin construction. Efforts are being made to reach that mark this year for a groundbreaking next spring.

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