Seniors Ella Cox, Raul Rios, Shyenne Wells and Alexia Williams each won a $500 scholarship to attend Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts after attending a culinary competition in Austin, Texas. The team was in Austin for a day and competed against schools in the area.

“Going into the competition, nerves were high,” culinary teacher Summer French said. “We were competing against at least 50 other teams, most from Austin area, and you just don’t know what to expect.”

The contestants were given a set of ingredients and allowed to choose their own dish to prepare, and were limited by what was given to them. Within the time limit, they had to decide what to make within the limits of what was possible.

“We had one hour to prepare a dish using three mystery basket ingredients,” senior Ella Cox said. “We ended up with a cut of beef, celery root and dried hibiscus flowers.”

The students who attended had previously shown promise in their work and were seasoned competitors from the year prior, which is why they were given the opportunity to attend the competition in Austin.

“For this one I needed seasoned competitors,” French said. “This group competed in a few things last year so they were ready for new challenge.”

Of the four students who attended, three of them have already been accepted into Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, which ran the competition.

“It was a whirlwind of an experience,” senior Ella Cox said. “I don’t think we fully understood what we were getting ourselves into.”