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‘‘I was honored and surprised when I found out I won,” she said.

Cole agreed. ‘‘It’s so overwhelming,” she said. ‘‘I’m happy to do what I’m doing.”

The contest, open to county high school students enrolled in professional restaurant management or hospitality management programs, requires participants to prepare an original entrée as a self-portrait, accompanied by the recipe and a personal essay.

For Jones, 17, it meant a cold dish combining the geographical elements of her family — seafood for the North, salsa for the South. For Cole, 18, it meant recalling the elaborate cakes she saw on family trips to Disney World when she was little.

Both have been cooking since they were young, often with family or for family, they said last week in the kitchen adjacent to the Panther Paw, Paint Branch’s restaurant for teachers and staff.

‘‘I like the creative aspect,” Jones said. ‘‘Everyone likes food, and I like making people happy.”

Wearing white chefs coats, Jones and Cole were smoothing buttercream icing on a large, double-layer yellow cake with a zest of lemon and berry filling for a National Honor Society induction ceremony later that night. The duo worked quietly but in sync on the task.

Both students are in Paint Branch’s restaurant management and culinary arts program, where students ultimately learn how to run a restaurant. After learning the basics of food safety and preparation, students cook and operate the Panther Paw two days a week under the direction of chef Sue McWilliams, the program’s instructor.

Desserts like the Honor Society cake are more of Cole’s specialty. Ever since she saw those cakes at Disney World, she has wanted to be a pastry chef, she said. Her culinary leanings were evident in her scholarship-winning dish, which was created with two puff pastries.

McWilliams, who has taught Cole for two years, said Cole has made ‘‘huge strides.”

‘‘It’s all come together for her” this year, she said.

Since eighth grade, Cole has worked at the restaurants in Riderwood Retirement Village, moving back to the kitchen full-time in March. She prepares salads and desserts and does anything else needed, such as marinating, in a position typically given to recent culinary school graduates, said Riderwood’s chef de cuisine Jason McCready, who has worked with Cole.

In the kitchen, Cole is a perfectionist, focused and detail-oriented, he said. ‘‘She does pretty well. She’s not as fast as she could be, but she knows what she’s doing.”

Jones wants to become a garde manger chef, responsible for cold foods in the kitchen. She has only been in the culinary arts program at Paint Branch this year but entered with all her prerequisites completed, allowing her to focus on improving her skills, McWilliams said. ‘‘She’s in this class seriously and she had the freedom to investigate.”

Jones has been working in the kitchen of Harry’s Cafe in Burtonsville for the past six months. ‘‘She’s excellent,” said Kim Jenkins, the restaurant’s general manager. ‘‘She’s just an all-around good kid.”

Despite being a female in a predominately male work environment, Jones holds her own, Jenkins said, quietly listening and learning from more experienced cooks. ‘‘She can handle it,” she said.

Next year, Jones will attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. (And yes, she does enjoy telling people she’s joining the C.I.A.) Cole, meanwhile, will attend Baltimore International College, where she wants to study under Jan Bandula, one of only 13 certified master pastry chefs in the United States. Valenzuela will be attending Montgomery College in Rockville and one day hopes to work in hospitality for Marriott hotels, where she previously had an internship through school.

McWilliams, watching as Jones and Cole prepared the orange and blue frosting for the cake, believes their work ethic in the kitchen will take them far.

‘‘They both have bright futures,” she said.