Friday, April 25, 2014
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.St. Luke Elementary School kindergarten student Dominic Payne rolled his dough to make a pretzel.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Michelle Valentino of Auntie Anne's began playing a short film about the history of pretzels at St. Luke Elementary School.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Auntie Anne's employee Julian Davis showed St. Luke Elementary School students how to shape their dough into a pretzel.
By TIM CLEVELAND
On April 4, St. Luke Elementary School brought in two workers from Auntie Anne’s Pretzels to show the children how to make pretzels. The event was tied into them learning a special pretzel Lenten prayer.
Three classes totaling 45 students in pre-kindergarten and transitional kindergarten attended the event.
Auntie Anne’s shift manager Michelle Valentino and employee Julian Davis played a short film about the history of the pretzel before the children were each given a piece of their own dough and were instructed on how to roll it and shape into a pretzel. The pretzels were then put into the workers’ special oven and cooked before they were given to the students to eat along with drinking lemonade.
“I had heard that they were doing field trips like this,” Valentino said. “I’m a mom, so I love being around children and working with them, so I volunteered instantly. They showed me exactly what I would need to do and how we do our little performance up front for the children and I was just excited and thrilled to do something like that.”
Making pretzels began in 610 A.D. in southern France when an Alpine Monk took pieces of leftover dough and formed them into thin strips folded into a looped twist to represent children in prayer. At that time, people prayed by folding their arms across their chest.
The treat was given to children as they learned their prayers. They were originally called “pretiola,” which is Latin for “little reward.” The term eventually evolved into pretzel.
The presentation at St. Luke was the third Valentino has done, with previous stops at Holy Family School in Poland and Center Middle School in Boardman.
Valentino said the presentations she give are a good learning experience for the children.
“They learn a lot about the history of the pretzel,” she said. “It gives them the information on how it started. They’re young and just to learn how to do the pretzel. It’s more or less a learning experience for them.”