Summer Chef / Fitness Partner Tip

Summer Chef Partner Tip:

We are pleased to announce our new Chef Partner, Dominick Maietta, the Chef de Cuisine for Coqueta in San Francisco. Chef Maietta was born and raised in the Bronx, and his family has been in the restaurant business since the 1940’s. He attended culinary school when he was 22, and has been working his way up ever since. He deeply believes in WITS’ message of health – he realized that with his 12 – 16 hour work days, he really had to look at food as fuel. When asked why he wanted to get involved with WITS, he says, “I was looking to volunteer on my off days specifically with a school program. Thanks to Instagram, I saw my culinary school was partnering with WITS, and I was intrigued. I did some research and found they had a West Coast operation in the Bay Area. What has stood out to me so far is the dedication WITS has for helping students connect the dots – from the farm to the cutting board to tasting the finished product. It is such a well-rounded approach to teaching kids about food.” We’re lucky to have Chef Dominick as part of our team! See below for his Summer Recipe.

“I absolutely love making watermelon salad in the summer. It’s so easy and very refreshing. I make a couple different versions but this is one of my favorites.” – Dominick Maietta, Chef de Cuisine of Coqueta 

Watermelon Feta Salad

1 medium seedless watermelon cut into 1″ cubes
Juice from 3 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp of salt
3/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta

Combine the lime juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper in a small bowl to create a dressing. Pour the dressing over the watermelon cubes and toss gently to coat. Gently mix in the fresh mint and feta cheese. 

*This salad is best made just prior to serving.
*When I pick out a watermelon I always choose one with a large yellow sunspot. They tend to be the sweetest!

Summer Fitness Partner Tip:


We were very excited to have Soft Lacrosse as our Fitness Partner this past year as they joined us at Epiphany Lower School for a WITS Play Day in January. This organization is on a mission to provide all youth with the opportunity to better themselves and communities through lacrosse; their activities are designed to help boys and girls gain confidence and improve their ability to problem solve, work with others, and make sound decisions to live a healthy lifestyle.  We are looking forward to partnering with them again this year to offer students an opportunity to try out lacrosse. See below for our Summer Fitness Partner Tip:

Think of your body like an engine – you can go fast and have a lot of fun but only if you’re warmed up and ready to go. It’s easy to get your body’s engine ready to play!

First, you need to put fuel in your engine. Next time you eat, take a look at the food on our plate and count how many colors there are. The more colors of food you have, the better the fuel is and the faster and stronger you’ll be. Once your engine is fueled up, we can get ready to go!!

With our engines strong and ready to play, we need to get our minds ready for fun too. Our engine is steered by the control room so we need to make sure it’s ready to go full speed too. Here’s a way for you to focus on the game so you can get out and have even more fun:

  • Close your eyes or find a spot just in front of you. Look right at it and keep your eyes on that spot.
  • Put your hand on your belly and feel the flow of breath in and out.
  • Give your full attention to your breath and feel it all the way in and all the way out.
  • Try to notice your in-breath and observe right when it begins
  • Follow it through all the way through to the out-breath.
  • Then see if you can feel the little moment right between breaths where everything is still and quiet.
  • This is your still quiet place. It’s always with us. Even when we are excited, or silly, or even when we’re sad, or want to jump around.

Finding our quiet place can take a few seconds or a few minutes. You can use your quiet place to give our full attention to the game, which means our engines can go super fast and you’ll have a lot more fun. Give it a try next time you are about to play!