The Marvel Dessert Challenge provided a fun team building activity for young people
Stephen Finn
The Sun
On Saturday, Jan. 19, the Burlington County Library hosted a unique event for young people that incorporated sweets and superheroes — a winning combination for any child. The Marvel Dessert Challenge was presented by The O League, a local nonprofit.
For the challenge, kids ranging in age from grades five through eight were divided into teams and had to work together to make a dessert inspired by a particular Marvel superhero out of the food materials provided. Awards were given to the teams for Most Creative, Best Representation of the Character and Best Overall Presentation.
Keelan Edward’s team won Best Presentation for its Spider-Man inspired dessert. The colorful creation incorporated icing webs, a spider with toothpick legs and a graham cracker skyscraper, the likes of which the popular hero famously swings from.
Although Edwards considers himself a fan of Spider-Man and goes to see the movies, his all-time favorite hero is The Flash.
“He’s fast, I play basketball so I have to be fast,” said Edwards.
His team came up with the idea for the Spider-Man inspired creation when it looked at the materials it had to work with and thought the toothpicks would come in handy for the chosen hero.
“It was really fun,” said Edwards. “My favorite part, I think, would be making the spider.”
Running the event were Shenee Omuso, education director with The O League, and Rosy Wagner, teen services librarian with the Burlington County Library.
The O League is based in Burlington. Its objective is to equip students with the necessary tools for success in life.
“Our mission is to build community leaders through education and sports programs,” said Omuso.
The majority of the children participating in the challenge were from the organization’s STEAM program. According to Omuso, The O League offers programs to all ages, including college prep, sports camps, leadership development and programs for parents.
Omuso and Wagner joined forces after a chance meeting to bring the event to the library. Each of them had something the other was looking for.
“We met randomly at a youth services meeting, hit it off, and started talking about what we could do because she has a built-in group of students and I’m trying to get kids in (the library),” said Wagner. “We wanted to see what we could give back to them, something creative, but also to hit that middle-grade age range.”
Wagner feels libraries don’t always offer programs aimed specifically at children in the middle grades and wants to bring more programs like the Marvel Dessert Challenge to the Burlington County Library. She believes the library should be a safe place where teens feel comfortable hanging out.
“It’s this meeting place between home and school. They can come and do what they have to do, they can relax and hang out with their friends. It’s a structured environment if they can’t go home yet or if they want to get out of the house,” said Wagner.
According to Omuso, the challenge was about more than just junk food and superheroes. The team aspect of the activity is something she tries to foster with children she works with.
“It’s team-building, problem-solving, communication, decision-making, leadership, which is our big thing. The league is all about cultivating leaders, so this is the kind of thing that really draws on that,” said Omuso.
For more information on The O League, visit theoleague.org. If you’d like to know more about what the Burlington County Library has to offer teens, call the library’s teen services at (609) 267–9660, ext. 3027.
