Four students from the William S. Hart Union High School District’s Culinary Arts Program showed off their skills in the kitchen at the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (CCAP) Los Angeles Region competition March 3.
West Ranch High School senior Belinda Polynice and Valencia High School seniors Julia Connors and Daniel Qujiano-Siade are three of 40 students advancing to the finals at the Los Angeles Mission College April 28.
Students participating in the finals will be eligible to win partial and full tuition scholarships.
Valencia High School junior Eliza Joy Nesheim was also named the nation’s No. 1 junior competitor.
Nesheim was awarded a paid internship to work and study at The Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College in New York City this summer.
A total of 21 students from Los Angeles County and Ventura County participated in the preliminary round of the competition, held at The Art Institute-Hollywood.
“This competition allowed us to see the practical skills we are teaching them come to fruition,” said Mike McClintock, a teacher in the Hart District Culinary Arts program in a press release. “It’s a tough field to be in with a lot of pressure, and to see them accomplish something we set out for them to accomplish is great. We are all very proud of them.”
Students had 90 minutes to complete three different dishes which included a composed salad, a classic French omelet, and four knife cuts on a potato (batonnet, small dice, julienne and brunoise).
The competition was judged by professional chefs throughout the nation, including Cindy Schwanke, the Culinary Arts instructor at College of the Canyons.
