Recipe For Success: Culinary kids cook up top awards at nationals in Florida

After a rare trip to culinary nationals last year in which Glenrock High School returned without an award, chef Patrick Hopper said the focus wasn’t there to live up to the high expectations the program has established. Well, that focus has returned and so have the accolades with the culinary program capturing two top honors at the annual Cook Around The World competition April 27 at Disney World Resort.

The blossoming Glenrock program that is more than two dozen cooks deep, blending both high school and junior high students, has so much talent that the Herders had two teams competing this year. Team #2 cooked up an incredible trip and won national awards – the Judge’s Award and South American (cuisine) overall first place.

“These kids are amazing. We do as much competitive cooking as we can and they have developed confidence not only in themselves, but also in their teammates. There is always the adrenaline of competing, but they handle it really well. They aren’t nervous as much as they are excited to be in the arena of competition,” Hopper said of the teams. “Watching them is poetry in motion. I’m not allowed to speak to them, so I just enjoy the show. A few of the judges made it a point to tell me that our teams really ‘had it together.’”

Cook Around The World offers high school students a unique educational and competitive experience against other schools from around the world. The young chefs hear from top colleges and universities about career options in the culinary and hospitality field as well as learn and hear from a top celebrity chef – which this year was Maneet Chauhan.

GHS Team #2 earning the double national awards featured Vitoria Rich, Aitana Romera, Katie Albrandt, Zoey Wasik, Laura Fernandez, Natalie Zagrabelney, Koi Horn, Kennley Blackburn and Julia Skinner. Teams do not know what cuisine they will prepare for competition until it’s time to cook and this crew drew South America.

GHS Team #1 was another roster of talented and experienced cooks. The group of Gabbi Taylor, Maya Kincaid, Kennadi Harvey, Riley McCluer, Alyih De Vries, Brylee Carter, Danika Harris,Jade McWilliams, Manny Coulter and Taitum Helmey drew Africa as their culinary challenge.

After that, it was all about putting what they were taught in the classroom to work – and, with no assistance. Team #2’s awarding-winning creation was black bean and pork tacos and savory zucchini ribbons with crispy potatoes.

“Between winning State ProStart and winning two awards in Disney, I have to admit that some tears were shed – with a few of them possibly being mine,” Hopper shared. “Their joy makes all of our efforts worth it. I’m afraid that most people don’t understand what an accomplishment these kids keep making. Winning at the State and National levels is no easy task, especially for a school our size.”
This was the fourth year Glenrock has competed on the global stage at Cook Around the World Disney. The program has now won seven awards over that short amount of time including two Celebrity Judges Awards from Amanda Freitag and Anne Burrell and several awards for best entree’ or appetizer.

The Judges Award this year was for scratch cooking.

“The Judges Awards come from either a celebrity judge or from the three judges that taste the food. This year one of the tasting judges appreciated our tortillas made from scratch with no rolling pin or tortilla press,” Hopper said.

Glenrock also captured First Place South America, a title that is exactly what it sounds like.

“Teams were randomly given a continent that they had to cook from as soon as we walked in the door. Out of all of the teams that drew South America (more than 20 teams) our food was chosen by the tasting judges to be the best. There was a second and third place team but we got first,” Hopper said. “We drew the last of three time slots to compete so the awards banquet was that same evening. I tell them, ‘To relax, you’ve done everything that I’ve asked you to do, and I know it was your best efforts.’”

The two dozen Glenrock students and their leaders arrived in Florida a couple days early to settle in, see some sights and further bond as a united group of all ages and backgrounds.

“Of course, Disney is a great place for kids to relax and have fun together. I especially enjoy watching our foreign exchange students having an experience that they might not be able to get elsewhere. But when the chef coats come on, they are all in for a culinary fight,” Hopper said. “We have a few kids who were on both teams. That’s the nice thing about our program, we have an overlap of freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors, so there is always a foundation of experience and an injection of new blood.”

The journey is not quite finished. Most of the team has returned to Glenrock but some headed straight to Baltimore April 30 to May 5 for the National ProStart completion. They qualified for that prestigious event by winning the ProStart Invitational back in January at the Wyoming Governor’s Convention in Cheyenne.

They will put on the coats on one more team in hopes of cooking up another award winner. No matter what, Glenrock students continue to taste success and once again put their little town on a big map.