Ten culinary arts students have advanced to the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) state competition to be held virtually this April. Students competed virtually in the regional competition in February.
“I am extremely excited for all of the students,” shared Chef Tim Michitsch, culinary arts instructor. “Because of the time frame for these competitions and them being virtual, I was not going to have the students compete this year, but the seniors were persistent and wanted to do it. The juniors had no experience, but once they heard the seniors were going to compete, they set their minds to it as well.”
Kali Seddon, culinary arts senior, shared how happy she was that her and her classmates got to compete. “It was definitely a learning curve trying to figure out how to do everything and we went through a lot of bumps along the way. Trying to learn the video piece and making sure we hit the deadline was tough, but I’m so happy that we did it and I’m excited for the next level.”
For Michitsch, who will be retiring at the end of this school year after thirty-three years of teaching, said he couldn’t be prouder of his students. “It didn’t matter where the students placed, just the fact that they stayed on task, and did what they had to do; as a teacher you couldn’t be any more proud.”
The students and the events they took part in are listed below by associate school district.
Amherst
Hannah Smith, culinary arts junior, competed in the cake decorating event.
Avon
Alex Pruchnicki, culinary arts senior, competed in the garde manager event.
Elyria
Aisha Charley, culinary arts junior, competed in the culinary team event.
Firelands
Zackary Hunkin, culinary arts junior, competed in the garde manager event.
Keystone
Cameron Heston, culinary arts junior, competed in the culinary math management event; Leah Bacsi, culinary arts junior, competed in the pastry tray event.
Midview
Kali Seddon and Gino Segedi, culinary arts seniors, competed in the culinary team event; Sandy Luke and Donavyn Pasters, culinary arts juniors, competed in the culinary team event.