Golden Carrot Winner: Bozeman School District Food Service

We are pleased to announce our November Golden Carrot Award to Bozeman School District (BSD7) Food Services for their work in bringing local food to local children. Through the leadership of Brittany Selvig, the Food Service Director, and Kirsten Pfannmuller, BSD7’s Registered Dietitian, BSD7 Food Services has strived to become a school leader in the Farm to School movement through local food procurement and value purchasing. The district participates in the Harvest of the Month program, highlighting different local foods each month, and is working towards using 100% local beef by the fall of 2024. 

Britney has been with BSD7 since 2014, first as the Registered Dietitian, and then as the Food Service Director for the past five years. Kirsten started her career with BSD7 in 2022, bringing a background in nutrition and public health. 

Both women are inspired by the work they do to feed the children of our community. Britney aims to empower her staff to realize the difference they can make in a student’s life by providing a nourishing and positive environment during school meal times. Kirsten loves to make connections with others and work together to fight hunger in Montana, but ultimately, spending time with students is always the highlight of her day. 

Food service and procurement work is hardly easy though. The pandemic was an especially difficult time. However, the perseverance BSD7’s Food Services showed to navigate those hardships, while ensuring every child had access to food, is one of Britney’s proudest moments. As she noted, it was a very rough period. Since coming out of the pandemic, children are back in the cafeteria and trying new foods. As Kirsten recalls, one of her favorite memories was when she connected to a kindergartener who had never tried melon before. BSD7 Food Services had sliced cantaloupe as part of their fruit selection for the day and the kindergartener asked Kirsten what it was when he put it on his tray. He bravely tried the cantaloup and loved it! So much in fact that he went back to grab more. Kirsten felt so proud to be a part of this child's experience of trying a new food, especially a fresh fruit!

Outside of the cafeteria, Britney is dedicated to continuing to work towards building a team that prioritizes feeding kids nutritious meals and encouraging a fun and healthy lifestyle. Kirsten is especially grateful for everyone who works in the department to make school meals happen. It takes an entire village! As they continue their procurement work, Kirsten would like to keep purchasing local food and strengthen connections with partner organizations, such as the Producer Partnership and Gallatin Valley Farm to School. 

Brittany & Kirsten - we at GV Farm to School sincerely thank you for valuing our local food system and actively being a school leader within it, especially while operating the largest district in the county! Congratulations!

If you would like to learn more about BDS7’s local food initiatives and how to support them, please reach out to Kirsten at kirsten.pfannmuller@bsd7.org