Teamwork was the catchphrase of the day for members of the Cooking Club on a recent field trip to Sur La Table in Lake Grove.

The 19 students in the program took part in a workshop with a professional chef where they were taught to make pasta from scratch, rolling it, shaping it and feeding it into a pasta machine. They also made a Caesar salad and dessert before sitting down to share their meal together.

“As hands-on learning opportunities are always a valuable aspect of the educational process, the students were successful in creating the meal and enjoying it together,” said school social worker Kristin Britt, who leads the program in coordination with the district’s speech language pathologist Stacia Schoen.

According to Britt, the focus of the club is social learning, which includes good communication, flexible thinking and cooperation. It also gives students an opportunity to interact with one another, giving them an active voice within their peer groups to become healthier and happier by taking the time to work together over the meals they create.

The Cooking Club is funded by the Royal Educational Foundation of Port Jefferson, which works to strengthen community participation in school programs and provide funds for projects to help assure educational excellence for all students in the Port Jefferson School District.