Let There Be Cake: Culinary FCCLA Competition!

Rangers that are in the Culinary class got to compete in the FCCLA competition in Fresno

By: Beth Musto

Last week, Rangers that are in the Culinary class on campus were able to compete in a FCCLA regional competition in Fresno. The students were exposed to feeling of something new and learned the tips of competing in a competition.

The Culinary teacher, Mrs. Garcia says, “I feel like they were pretty well prepared. Going forward towards state, we need to work on time management and adding more details to their projects.”

Students were getting nervous butterflies in their stomachs as the competition came closer. For some, this was their frist time getting thier cake judged, it was understandable why they had those feelings. Mrs. Garcia did everything she could to help them feel confident once the days came closer.

“I hope I did. It was fun to watch their creative ideas come together. As an adviser, I try to let them discover their strengths and to build on their struggles.” Says, Mrs. Garcia.

Evanai Lee-Kearney ‘25 says, “I was really nervous, my classmate didn’t tell me that I was going to be presenting, so i had to do a little speech, but everything turned out great!”

Jordan Neely ‘24 says, “I was struggling with my confidence in entering this competition because I had never made a cake that would be judged and scored. However, as the days leading up to competition went by I started to feel better about going and presenting it. But since the theme of the competition event was ‘Eras’ I felt confident in my knowledge of 80’s. So that’s what I decided to do for my cake.”

Coming in new to the competition, Neely thought that she wasn’t going to place with her cake. But, she pulled through and got an outstanding score for the cake! She did it the Ranger way!

Neely says, “I was expecting my results to be really low. I honestly thought I wouldn’t even place, however, I ended up placing second in the Creative Cakes category of the Culinary Display event.”

Mrs. Garcia says, “I thought that Jordan did great in the Creative Cake competition. She made a cake look like a detailed fender guitar with no experience. I think she surprised herself with a 2nd place finish. It’s a lot to be proud of.”

“I entered this competition to get the experience and to say that I have been a part of FCCLA and that my time contributing actually meant something. I want stories that I can tell for years and I definitely gained that privilege while doing this competition!” Says, Neely.

While Neely was being creative with the design of her cake, she had the brilliant idea of doing an 80s-era-themed cake. She will be featuring the famous band Queen for her cake idea!She says, “I will be making a cake into the shape of a Fender Stratocaster with a poster board background that has been painted red and black with different band logos from the 80s all over it. The title of the cake is “Another One Bites The Cake” -Queen.”

“I was really happy, I came in 2nd for my competition event, and my classmate came in 1st!” Says, Lee-Kearney.

Mrs. Garcia was very proud that her students did an outstanding job in the competition! They never gave up, and made everyone proud! She says, “Holland Phillips took 1st place and Evanai Lee-Kearney took 2nd place in the Wedding Cake/Culinary Display Competition. This is Holland’s 3rd year competing at State and watching her work evolve has been amazing. I’m proud of all of them!”

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