Hello!
Since I’m a bit new here to the blog I want to introduce myself. My name is Chelsea Bargo and I am one of the new Ambassador Coordinators for the 2017-2018 school year. I am currently in my third year but my journey in Columbus started about 10 years ago. I graduated high school from a small country school about 30 miles east of Columbus. I then found myself attending Auburn University for my undergraduate studies before eventually making my way back to Columbus and Ohio State. I hope that I have the opportunity to meet you at an interview day and tell you more about my journey and why I chose to come to Ohio State for pharmacy school. But for now, I want to tell you a little bit more about one of the largest events at the college, the Chili Cook-off.
For the past 20 years the college has been adding a little more spice to the mortar and pestle by hosting a competitive event for a good cause. Each organization within the college is encouraged to make a team and show off their culinary creativity by crafting a batch of chili and theme. What’s even better is that there are teams outside the college who come together to support the Chili Cook-off. I even ran in to an old high school friend that I hadn’t seen in years while he was helping his girlfriend, a nurse practitioner student, man her booth. This year some of the standout teams and themes were Phi Delta Chi’s Stranger Beans, SNPhA’s Chili with a Chance of Meatballs, the College of Pharmacy Residents’ Spice Jam, Kappa Psi’s The Chilionaires, Kappa Psi Pledges’ Beano 911, and a friend of mine’s Chili Joel to name a few. As always, the chilis this year were fantastic and featured some out of the box ingredients like ale, bleu cheese, exotic latin spices, pork, meatballs, and coffee. I unfortunately was unable to make myself try the approximately 30 chilis at this year’s cook-off but each one of them I did get to was absolutely delicious.
A panel of judges made up of students, professors, deans, and faculty was miraculously able to make it around to each chili to help decide which chilis were better than the rest. Plus, each year there is always a people’s choice award for the crowd’s favorite chili. Here’s a list of this year’s winners:
- Healthiest Chili—CPNP
- Charitable Pharmacy Award—Spice Jam
- College of Pharmacy Dean’s Choice—P1 Class of 2021
- Spicy Chili Award—P1 Class of 2021
- Mild Chili Award—Devin’s Grand Slam Chili
- Vegetarian Chili Award—CPNP
- Students’ Choice Award—P1 Class of 2021
- Rusty Bucket Award—Devin’s Grand Slam Chili
- Alumni Award—Bean There, Done That!
- Nursing Award—Spice Jam
- Best Table Award—Brenny’s Best Chili
- Most Philanthropic Award—Bean There, Done That!
- People’s Choice Award—The Chilionaires
Congrats to all the winners!!
The most important thing about this event is not all of the fun and creativity that goes in to creating a chili but in how much money is raised for a charity here in Central Ohio. This year, the beneficiary of the event was The Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio, a cause that is very near and dear to many people within the college. The Charitable Pharmacy is a gem located on Livingston Avenue that serves the underserved here in Franklin County and linking them to life saving medications and pharmacy services. As a student, I have had the great pleasure to volunteer at Charitable and serve my community through filling prescriptions. While the final donation tally is still being totaled we do know that the silent auction brought in $1,000. What is even more impressive is that The Charitable Pharmacy is able to turn that in to over $7,000 worth of prescription medications!
Unfortunately, the Chili Cook-Off is only one night each year but it is always a memorable one. I love that our college and the community comes together for a night of fun and charity. If you’re ever in town during the fall semester look to see if it’s the same weekend of the Chili Cook-Off! I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Until next time,
Chelsea