By AUBRIE GEORGE
Thanks to the ingenuity of one local sixth grader, ice cream lovers from DeMasi Middle School and all over Marlton enjoyed a tasty treat last week.
Ben Quatresols, a sixth grade student at DeMasi, entered into a contest with over 700 of his classmates as well as teachers and staff members. The contest was held by McCones Ice Cream — a family-owned ice cream shop on Evesboro-Medford Road that opened this summer — to see who could come up with a new and exciting flavor for McCones to make and sell to raise funds for DeMasi.
Michelle McAndrew, who owns McCones alongside her husband, Patrick, said, as residents of Marlton with three children in the school district, they were looking for a way to get involved with the local schools.
The McAndrews reached out to DeMasi and the idea to hold a contest was well received by teachers.
“We were trying to promote some school spirit and have some fun at the same time,” Krista Wrigley, a sixth grade teacher at DeMasi, said.
Students submitted over 100 ideas with suggestions ranging from a pumpkin pie ice cream to a “dolphin food” ice cream to represent the school’s mascot and blue and white school colors.
From there, the teachers selected 20 finalists, which they sent back to McAndrew who went through the recipes to find out which ones would be feasible to make.
Then, a list of eight finalists was presented to students who selected which flavor they thought was the best.
Teachers said Ben’s creation, which he calls “Chocolate Explosion,” won by a landslide.
A self-proclaimed chocolate lover himself, Ben said he got the idea for his flavor because he knows how many people love chocolate, too.
“My original idea was chocolate ice cream, brownies, chocolate fudge and blue and white sprinkles, but then my friend told me I should put Oreos in it,” Ben said.
The end result contains Oreos as well as chocolate ice cream, brownie, fudge and blue and white sprinkles, representing his DeMasi school spirit.
McCone’s invited Ben’s classmates, teachers, family, and other members of the community to come in and try his winning flavor during a benefit held last week.
Twenty five percent of all proceeds from sales during last week’s event are being donated by the McAndrews to the school’s Renaissance Club, which carries out various projects throughout the school year that aim to promote community service and school spirit.
McAndrew said she made ten gallons of Ben’s ice cream for the fund raiser and would consider keeping it around afterward as a regular flavor.
“We’ll see how it goes, if it’s something that people are asking for, then I will definitely continue to make it,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ben is enjoying his success as the contest winner at DeMasi.
“I feel great, I thought it was really awesome,” Ben said, noting that he’s been introduced to people he hadn’t been acquainted with before.
“Now I’m like some big celebrity or something.”
In the end, though, Ben just hopes he created something special that his classmates like.
“I think it’s going to be a hit,” he said before everyone dug in. “I just hope everybody enjoys it.”
