2025 MDE-SNAM Annual Conference: Marching Towards Healthy Meals

By Mary Darnton, SNS

Food Service Director

Jenison & Hudsonville Public Schools

On November 10-13, 2025 the annual MDE-SNAM Conference and Exhibit Show was held in Battle Creek, Michigan at the newly-renovated Battle Creek Doubletree and Kellogg Arena.  This conference welcomes Child Nutrition professionals, State Agency staff,  and Industry Partners together for 3 days of networking, knowledge, and fun.

Thursday November 6: Pre-Conference Day

Pre-Conference Sessions offer a chance for a deeper dive into topics of interest and courses that fit into achieving professional credentials and certificates.  SNAM partners with the Michigan School Business Officials (MSBO) to offer the Child Nutrition Director certification.  Participants can also earn CEUs for School Nutrition Association Certificate Levels and SNS Credential Maintenance.

This year we offered more tours and experiences for our members.  Half Day and Full Day tours of Cereal and Milk production facilities were a hot ticket and the tours were full!

Afternoon Session centered around financial literacy, sourcing local foods, and meal pattern compliance.

Friday November 7: MDE Day

Friday is when the Michigan Department of Education and our partners in the Office of Nutrition Services gave us   day of updates, best practices, and very important back-to-basic knowledge with new resources.  Our profession is going through a major generational turnover, and new tools and resources are being developed to help child nutrition professionals create and maintain great programs.

A hot topic this year and a repeat session was “Keeping in Step: Preschool Pricing and Billing in Perfect Harmony” led by Jared Simkins an Kelli Sigafoose from MDE.  They have developed new flowchart tools to help schools properly price and bill Preschool meals.  The advent of Michigan School Meals and expanded preschool options for families means that child nutrition professionals need to brush up on preschool meal patterns, proper pricing and billing and navigate though NSLP and CACFP regulations.

MDE offered several sessions about Procurement and Menu Planning.  Procurement topics included introductory sessions for new managers, updates to the Buy American Provision, and Procurement Partnerships.  Several sessions highlighted the Summer Food Service Program’s non-Congregate and Congregate options and how to take advantage of each service style.

Saturday November 8: Learn and Celebrate!

This year’s keynote Speaker is the President of the Tackle Life Foundation,  Herman Moore.  Mr. Moore is a Detroit Lions legend, but most of us don’t know about his life’s work off of the football field.  He spoke about his upbringing and influences, sharing his story. As he grew up, he noted, “Survival took priority over growth,” and that “I can only see what I saw,” explaining that it is hard to grow if your view of the world does not expand.  He shared  how success in athletics opened a door for him to realize his true calling of leadership through entrepreneurship, and that success expanded his world view. 

EDUCATION SESSIONS

This year, SNAM put together a slate of course offerings to educate and inspire directors, managers, and associates.  People-focused sessions spokes about teamwork, staff engagement, purposeful leadership, and celebrating food cultures.

Sessions also focused on skills for today and beyond.  The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere right now, and Child Nutrition Professionals need to understand how AI works and how it can help or hinder our programs.  Caroline Dylewski and special guest Sarah Dylewski (yes, mother-daughter) spoke about how AI is already transforming our lives.  From the educational experience of students in college, to school kitchens everywhere, AI is here to stay.   Sarah shared that today’s college are learning to use AI as a benefit, because AI will limit the number of jobs available.  Sarah emphasized people still need to know the material they are studying, because AI must be checked for fidelity. Most AI “chatbots” are text predictors and create human-like text responses, but they can and DO make mistakes. 

Presenting Sponsor WK Kellogg’s Chief Wellbeing Officer, Sarah Ludmer, spoke to a packed room about how nutrition standards have evolved and how manufacturers respond to changes in the American diet and how nutrition standards have evolved over the last 100 years. 

As we look ahead into the future, our need for great people to work with us does not lessen.  Our schools are filled with all kinds of students and all kinds of staff.  We all look for ways to motivate and engage our staff so that they feel respected, connected, and valued at work.  Sessions covered team building, listen habits, and safety.  And sometimes, we just need to vent.  Many sessions emphasized  “No Judgement Zones” for staff to safely vent frustrations and share successes. 

EXHIBIT SHOW

This year more than 100 industry partners and vendors filled the Kellogg Arena with the latest offerings and product to service the K12 marketplace.  Attendees were given a “passport” and visited booths in order to be eligible for drawings and prizes offered during the Conference. 

If you were looking for something in particular, chances are, it was on the floor!  Vendors and partners are there to hear about challenges that operators have in the field, and offer solutions.  The exhibit floor is the place to wander, taste, talk, share, and plan!  

SNAM would like to thank all Industry Partners who helped make this event possible.

On Saturday night, it was time to celebrate and honor one another.  We said farewell to our outgoing 2024-25 Board, thanking them for their time on behalf of the association. The highlight of the night is always honoring the members of our association who have made memorable impacts on behalf of their districts and students. 

We honored our Employee, Manager, and Director of the year winners.  The selection committee had dozens of submissions and selected these amazing people for their work in Child Nutrition. 

Outgoing SNAM President June Altom honored Janice Dixon from the Michigan Department of Education as the recipient for the Kristen Hennessy President’s Award.  Janice is the Executive Secretary to the Director of the Office of Nutrition Services.  Janice is one of the key players when planning this event.  Her knowledge and expertise of conference planning, logistics, support, make these events run smoothly.  Janice is amazing!

Thanks to everyone who donated a prize for our Silent Auction, and the winners who bid!  Every item was spoken for, and the funds raised go to support scholarship opportunities for our members to attend conferences.

Once dinner ended, the DJ took the stage and that’s when the Lunch Ladies and Food Dudes of Michigan took to the dance floor!!  This is not a crowd that wants slow songs – we came to groove, and kept the party going until the lights turned on! 

Sunday dawns, and everyone gets a bit of time to sleep in.  The final session begins with the installation of the 2025-26 SNAM Board.  President John Galacz takes the gavel this year, ready to lead SNAM through the next year. 

Finally, lots of winners in the room as vendor-donated Door Prizes were given away – but you had to be there to win!  We are so grateful to our partners for their support.

We said hugged goodbye, had some last laughs, and then headed home.  Our minds and hearts are full and ready to take what we learned back to our districts. 

Get your calendar and make plans for next year!  We’ll see you in Kalamazoo November 5-8, 2026 for the 2026 MDE-SNAM Conference!