Seniors in Steve Franco‘s advanced theatre class at Glenvar High School got a special treat last week when they filmed Cookin’ with Kroger at Plow & Hearth at Valley View Mall alongside Kroger executive chef (and Franco’s longtime friend) Steve Alls.

As parent to sophomore Zack Alls, Steve Alls was invested in Glenvar High School and wanted to partner with the school for an episode of the local cooking show. “It took a long time to pull this together,” Alls said–about a year, according to Franco.

Four Glenvar students worked with Steve Alls to prepare three dishes for the episode, which will air Sunday, Nov. 4. Bryce Mallette cooked up his grandmother Maxine Davis‘s recipe for hot wings, Alvin Wheeler and Nathan Keffer worked together to create Kickin’ Chicken Parmesan and Cassie Waldron created Sugar Bombs, a dessert similar to cake pops made out of crushed Oreos and cream cheese.

Mallette and his family, who live nearby, had Franco and his wife over for dinner the night before filming–they cooked the hot wings so Bryce could practice, Franco said.

Zack Alls and a few other students–Annie Doss, Pete Deaver and Eric Richards–got to observe the process of filming the show from behind the scenes.

Cookin’ with Kroger is shot once a month; episodes air the first and third Sundays of the month on the local ABC channels in both Roanoke and in Richmond (that’d be WSET13 here) at 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. respectively.

For more information, visit the Cookin’ with Kroger website.