From can openers and cutting boards to vegetables, meat and spices, students arrived at Martin’s Crosswinds in Greenbelt with everything needed to prepare the meal they had been practicing for months.
Besides cookware and ingredients, students brought careful planning and teamwork with them as they set out to make a restaurant-worthy meal.
Their kitchen space was two tables put together to form an L-shape, covered with white cloths and holding two single-burner gas stoves.
On March 5, high school culinary students demonstrated the skills they learned in class for a panel of judges at the Maryland State Invitational High School Culinary Competition, referred to as ‘‘the state championship of cooking” by Marshall Weston, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospitality Education Foundation. The foundation has sponsored the event for four years.
The competition included 22 teams from across the state. Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard, Sherwood, Springbrook and Watkins Mill high schools represented Montgomery County, with students from Sherwood in Sandy Spring cooking their way to third place.
‘‘We definitely worked as a team, that was key,” Arleigh Rose, 18, of Olney said.
Rose was one of four seniors on the team that also included Edson Miranda, 19, Bryce Moore, 18, and Geremy Muldoon, 17, all from Olney. Junior Erin McMakin, 16, of Olney was the alternate.
While the older students worked to create a full meal from appetizer to dessert, McMakin watched, suited up in a chef’s hat and jacket ready to take over if one of the regular team members was unable to finish the competition.
‘‘I definitely learned a lot,” she said afterwards. ‘‘They [the judges] said our strength was teamwork and communication.”
Students had to bring everything they needed to produce a restaurant quality meal in one hour.
‘‘We met at the school at 6 a.m., it was chaos,” said Neelou Ladjevardi, 17, a senior at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg and alternate member of her school’s team. ‘‘We were trying to pre-measure and pack up to minimize what would have to be done here.”
In spite of the anxiety most students said they felt or maybe because of it, there was a hush in the auditorium where about a dozen teams at a time competed.
Judges walked around, checking on every aspect of the food preparation process. Judging was based on a number of factors, including food safety and sanitation, team cooperation and appearance, presence and, of course, taste.
Soon the smells of the cooking filled the room, telling the story of the tasty lessons learned and many hours of work students put in leading up to the competition.
‘‘These students are the future of the industry, [they] realize there is a career here for them, no other industry allows for that opportunity and growth,” Weston said.
In Maryland, job growth in food service is expected to be 15 percent over the next three to five years, he said.
One member of Sherwood’s team is already working in the industry as a line cook at The Inn at Brookeville Farms. The restaurant’s chef, Paul Hajewski, is also the mentor for the Sherwood team.
Miranda has been working at the restaurant for eight months as part of an internship.
‘‘In a real restaurant you need to work as a team,” he said. ‘‘It is the same as [what] we did. We were happy to work together and we had fun.”
Each member of the Sherwood team won a scholarship package worth $17,000. The alternate student was awarded a $15,850 package. The package included money from nine different colleges and trade schools. The student can only use the scholarship money contributed by the school he or she chooses to attend.
