Gianmario Oddi, Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Supervisor of Student Nutrition, has been selected to join the prestigious 2025 Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship, a national program designed to transform school food services across the country.
Oddi is one of just 27 school food leaders nationwide chosen for the annual fellowship run by the Chef Ann Foundation. The program aims to empower school food professionals to implement healthier, more environmentally sustainable food programs based on scratch cooking principles rather than relying on highly-processed meals.
“I never thought to be working at a school, for me as a chef to be…my final career destination,” Oddi said. “Then I started meeting people on this journey that I never thought that I could meet, and got to know the people that are doing this for not that much money, it’s more like out of a passion.”
The fellowship, which runs from January 2025 through January 2026, provides comprehensive training across all aspects of what it means to run a school food operation.
“They’re learning about various facets of what it means to run a school food operation,” said Laura Smith, Chief Program Officer at the Chef Ann Foundation. “We always talk about food, facilities, finance, human resource marketing, those kinds of key facets for an operation. While they are implementing their learnings in their home school district, they also get to travel across the country and see exemplary programs.”
The Healthy School Food Pathway is structured as a three-tier workforce development pipeline to support individuals at various career levels, from pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship to fellowship. This third tier, the fellowship program, is geared for mid- to upper-level school food professionals, and aims to address a nationwide staffing crisis in school food services.
“Long before COVID, but certainly exacerbated by it, is the need for more individuals in school food,” Smith said. “It is one of the most understaffed positions across our school districts throughout the U.S.”
California has recognized this challenge as a key opportunity, she said, investing in farm-to-school initiatives, kitchen infrastructure and training programs.
“The workforce development program was really born out of the need to increase the skill level and also just increase the workforce capacity across the state to meet the needs of healthy school meals for all,” Smith said.
The program offers opportunities for collaboration and idea exchange.
“We have the chance to exchange opinions and how we face challenges within the district,” Oddi said. “We have the chance to connect with other food nutrition worker professionals that are trying to make it with all the challenges in staffing, equipment and infrastructure we are all facing.”
The program culminates in a capstone project, with each fellow receiving $5,000 to implement improvements in their district.
“The goal is that all of their learnings kind of culminate into the implementation of this program,” Smith said. “They will not only have this knowledge that will carry them forward, but they also have some real true change under their belts.”
Smith highlighted how school food careers offer unique advantages for culinary professionals compared to traditional hospitality roles.
“School food offers an opportunity for folks who are looking for a culinary career in ways that restaurants and other traditional hospitality industries don’t,” she explained. “The hours are during the school day. So folks with kids can be working when their kids are in school, and be home on the weekends. Most districts offer benefits, even some for part-time staff.”
This flexibility particularly benefits parents seeking part-time employment.
“Usually a student nutrition assistant is like a four or six hour position,” Oddi said. “A lot of people that are doing this kind of job are people like moms, they have that time gap to fill up during their day.”
Oddi has already begun implementing changes in Morgan Hill, including introducing scratch-made pizza.
“We’re going to make our own pizza,” he said. “It’s a ‘speed-scratch’ process. We don’t have our own dough made, but we’re making our own sauce. We’re making the pizza on site, we’re buying a clean, locally-sourced mozzarella cheese. It’s a big deal, when the pizza is your most-sold item…it’s a big, big victory.”
Looking ahead, Oddi is focused on community engagement, in an effort to expand the impact of his nutritional mission from the school to the home.
“I’m very happy to be in the process of doing this,” he said. “Chef Ann can give me the possibility to find solutions and ideas and then to share the concerns that I have. That is super precious, and I’m going to try to absorb as much as I can because it’s definitely worth it.”
The Chef Ann Foundation’s ultimate goal extends beyond individual districts.
“By understanding how school food integrates into the larger food system, Fellows can drive change that has a ripple effect far beyond their local communities,” Smith said.
