Jordyn Perkins held the wax paper down as her mother, Sarah, carefully peeled away the flattened dough.
“You need to be careful,” she warned.
The dough was gingerly lifted and spread into the pie tin with a few holes to be filled in here and there.
A mound of sliced apples was then tucked beneath a top crust.
That’s when Jordyn and third-grade classmate Katelynn Alameda decided to make their pie extra special.
“It’s real cinnamony,” Katelynn said. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
“They’ll know ours,” Jordyn added. “It’s the one with the most cinnamon.”
When diners at the Everett Gospel Mission bit into their Thanksgiving Day dessert on Thursday, they enjoyed the fruits of youthful labor.
Each of the 68 pies made by third-graders at Odyssey Elementary School south of Everett has a story behind it.
Youngsters with rolling pins and big balls of dough went to the task last week of preparing their apple pies.
Thin white sheens of flour dusted their clothes and the tips of some noses.
The cafeteria floor grew sticky with apple slices that never quite made it into the pies.
For more than a decade, students at the school, which used to be Lake Stickney Elementary, have made apple pies for the mission at Thanksgiving. It started in Ann Jordan’s classroom 16 years ago but now involves the entire third grade — 135 students — and a small army of volunteers.
“We have kids from many different backgrounds,” Odyssey Principal Cheryl Boze said. “Many have been on the receiving end of getting help and gifts, but with this, they can give back. They learn that no matter what their age or family income, they can give.”
It’s a good learning exercise for students and parents. Many grown-ups last week said they had never made a crust from scratch before, but Jordan always insisted on no Pillsbury shortcuts.
Jordan, who is now principal at Endeavour Elementary School, another campus in the Mukilteo School District, looks back fondly at the pie-making tradition in which students followed her great-grandmother’s recipe.
“The pies look amazing,” Jordan said. “They are all very different and very creative, but when you taste one they are very good.”
Brennen McAlpin worked alongside his mom, Freda, and classmate Cecilia Martinez.
Brennen figured their pie would be very tasty, based on a secret ingredient.
“Mom put in the love,” he said.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.
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