How a birthday saved a s'more

“It was supposed to be really bad,” said first-year Coleman after winning the s’mores cook-off on Wednesday night.

The boys in Mt. Rogers cabin originally planned to make a s’more that looked good to deceive the judges, tricking them into eating something that tasted as good as the firewood they cooked with.

“We were going to make it really bad,” said second-year Grayson. “A caramel drizzle to the point it melted all over. We were going to burn the marshmallow, like until it was literally black.”

The original plan was to squish the marshmallows in between two pop-tarts, one with jelly spread on it, the other with peanut butter. In between the Reese’s and mint chocolate, they wanted to sprinkle in cinnamon candies and barbeque chips, and put the whole thing back in the fire to “cook” it to “perfection.” But plans changed when the group learned that it was program director Madison Melvin’s birthday.

“We decided to make it a little better since it was Madison’s birthday,” Grayson said.

Instead, Grayson suggested using the recipe they used last week. Using Reese’s as the chocolate, they squished their new s’more between two wafer cookies and pretzels, spread Nutella on the cookies, and put in a perfectly cooked, golden marshmallow. The room erupted as their plate was set on the first-place spot.

“It’s all about the bragging rights,” the boys said as they celebrated their win.

• Authored by Orion Griffin