Students participate in cooking competition at State College High School

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) — Students from several career and technology schools sharpened their knives and put their cooking skills to the test at State College Area High School.

This was part of a competition called the Army Culinary Championship and this was sponsored by the State College Army Recruiting Company. Students from Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center , State College Area High School , Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology , Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology , and The Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center competed.

The students were given just one hour to make a dish with ingredients that were presented in a mystery box. The head judge was Sergeant First Class Brian Colvin who is a two-time winner of the popular TV series “Chopped”.

“It’s also really awesome that they get to learn from each other and from the other chefs that work at those schools. So not only is it a competition, it’s an excellent learning opportunity for them,” Colvin said.

This was a fast-paced challenge that utilized the student’s cooking skills as well as the ability to create dishes on the fly. Students had to work with items such as pork shoulder and even an MRE .

“The competition is a great way to get that feedback from industry professionals and then make yourself a better professional,” Culinary Instructor at State College High School Zach Lorber said.

During the challenge, some students struggled as they had never worked with some of the ingredients. Which was a goal of the competition, to get kids to make creative dishes.

“The biggest challenge was working with an ingredient that we had no idea what to do with and just the surprise of what the ingredients were,” Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center Student Tyler Salysburt said.

“I’ve never seen that root before in my life, and it was definitely a challenge. But we pulled through and we succeeded,” Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology Student Jaspe Santiago said.

Judges were able to walk around and interact with all the students, to help and give advice. It also served as an opportunity for the students to interact.

“Walking around, just seeing the kids engaged with one another. It’s not just their keeping to their own little group, they are cross-talking between one another and they’re taking this opportunity to expound upon their experience at their local high school and bringing it to an even bigger platform,” Captain Lawrence Johnson said.

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This was also a moment to show that everyone has the ability to cook.

“The sky’s the limit, you don’t have to be a professional chef to be an incredible cook. You can have fun with it as long as you find joy and just go for it,” Colvin said.

The Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center took home gold but judges say everything made was worthy of first place.

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