Cooking up Careers was held Friday, April 26, under the coaching of Chef Leslie Rasco, where Joseph Warren III, Elizabeth Poole, Faye Gonzalez, and Allene Elliff competed in the 5th Annual Cooking Up Careers competition at Stephen F. Austin University. They competed against seven other schools in a Mystery Basket Event. Contestants do not know what protein they will be preparing ahead of time and only find out 10 minutes before cooking begins. They draw knives to determine the order they are allowed to choose their starch. Sophomores Warren, Poole, Gonzalez, and Elliff have never cooked fish before and they had never cooked as a team before. They placed second overall, only because they ran less than a minute over time.

“These are your future chefs”, said Rasco. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

In addition the Texas High School BBQ Cookers Association State competition was May 3rd at the “State of Texas Kingford High School BBQ Competition” which was hosted at Burnett High School in Burnett Texas. Three Chapel Hill teams represented East Texas BBQ against approximately 70 teams competing for scholarships and the opportunity to compete in the World Food Championship in Dallas this year.

Team “Mean Smokers” won 24th overall, 7th place for their peanut butter pie dessert, and 20th place for their chicken with Angel Halsey, Amber Lee, and Ittzell Fernandez. Team “Smokin’ Dawgs” won 17th place fro their banana pudding dessert with Ka’Davion Bush, Kendale Johnson, China Blalock, and Seth Sanchez. The third team, “Kill It and Grill It” received Honorable Mention with Joshua Hermanns, Joseph Warren, Faye Gonzalez, Cassie Barnett, and Elizabeth Poole.

Culinary will cater the Athletic Banquet which well be held at Bethal Baptist Church on Tuesday, May 14.