Photo by Jenny Kirk Russell-Tyler-Ruthton students (from left) Cameron Nelson and Hunter Vanlerberghe plate their food in preparation for judging during the cooking competition at the 2018 Culinary Skills Challenge on Thursday.

MARSHALL — Whether it was making a spring roll, learning how to flip an omelet or taking part in other hands-on sessions or the many competitions featured, the opportunities were plentiful for the more than 200 high school students in attendance at the 14th annual Schwan’s Culinary Skills Challenge on Thursday.

“It’s my first time competing, but my third time here,” Marshall senior Lauren Noriega said. “Honestly, I wish I would’ve competed earlier. It was an amazing experience, so I wish I would’ve tried new things before it was my senior year. I wish I would’ve done cake decorating. Looking at all the cakes, they were awesome. So many people are talented and you just don’t know it.”

One of more than 20 Marshall students at the challenge, Noriega participated in the cupcake decorating competition.

“I think it went better than I thought,” she said. “It was nerve-wracking.”

As far as challenges, Noriega said the consistency of her frosting topped the list.

“My frosting was still too hard,” Noriega said. “It was too cold, so I was trying to squeeze the frosting out and it wasn’t coming out. I had to take a knife, jab it in there and then kind of roll it back and forth in my hands, but it still wasn’t coming out right. I was one of the last ones finished because the frosting just wouldn’t come out.”

Yellow Medicine East students rocked the cupcake decorating contest, taking all three of the top spots. Kaelyn Grimes earned first place, while Angel Filzen was second and Angel Jimenez took third.

Emily Meiners took first place for Lakeview in the cake decorating (fondant) competition. Meiners was among a group of 43 students from Lakeview.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton had 15 students participating, with Collin Wells taking first in menu design and Jaden Borman taking second in place setting and napkin folding. Mya Christensen and Westin Kirk also took home a second-place finish in the baking science category for RTR.

In the cake decorating (icing) competition, RTR’s Zach Miller was second and Grace Klumper was third.

Representing one of the 12 students in attendance for Murray County Central, Maggie Heezen finished first in baking science.

“It’s just a nice way to introduce them to different areas in the culinary world,” said Gail Polejewski, event coordinator and career development coordinator for Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, which partners with Southwest Minnesota State University for the annual event.

In addition to the nine categories of competition, the students representing 16 schools had the opportunity to engage in up to 10 different sessions.

“We’re very fortunate to get a lot of chefs to come this year, but the presenters are not all chefs, which is good because there’s a lot of different routes that you can go and still be part of the food industry,” Polejewski said. “Some of the judges or presenters here do it as a hobby because they love it.”

Polejewski said she’s grateful for the title sponsorship from Schwan’s because it makes a huge difference, allowing organizers to bring in high-quality professionals to interact with the students.

“When I come to events like this, when I’m working with kids, I think about my impact I can have on them,” judge Seth Daugherty said. “At 52 years old, I’m certainly not the future of the hospitality industry. If I’m not doing everything I can to further that, I’m not doing enough. It’s as simple as that.”

Daugherty is a classically-trained French chef and former longtime culinary instructor. He said he has never made money any other way except in food service, adding that he got his first restaurant job when he was 12.

“I went to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), did my apprenticeship at the Four Seasons Hotel and worked at a French restaurant in New York City,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of great things. But I really feel like my last phase of what I want to do is giving back.”

Daugherty now works for a Minneapolis organization called Open Arms.

“Open Arms is a place that provides meals for people with terminal illnesses, for free,” Daugherty said. “So while I’ve done some cool stuff in my life — including getting invited to the White House by Michelle Obama to consult with her on her ‘Let’s Move!’ initiative, this work I’m doing now will be, without question, the most important work that I do as a chef and a person.”

Daugherty also travels the country as a consultant for his own nonprofit called Real Food Initiatives, which focuses on healthy eating.

“We are in the second generation of processed foods — actually, we’re starting the third,” he said. “It was 1972 when McDonald’s came on board and fast food came on, and our country has never been the same since.”

Since Daugherty is passionate about healthy cooking and eating, he said he’s grateful for the opportunity to have a positive impact on youth.

“I’m super proud to be here and I’ve already let Gail know that I’ll be back here next year,” Daugherty said. “The kids had a blast, too. I told them, regardless of whether they go into the food industry or not, we eat.”

Along with local professional, Matt Schreier, Daugherty helped judge the cooking competition, which was offered for the fifth straight year.

“We maxed out on the number of teams for the cooking competition,” Polejewski said. “We can only have eight.”

Minneota students Lizzy Gillingham, Brooklyn Nelson, Thomas Hennen and Sydney Larson took part in the cooking competition, as did YME’s Dalton Anderson, Madison Ohliger, Anna Viergutz and Stephen Winger. Cameron Nelson and Hunter Vanlerberghe teamed up for RTR, as did the second RTR team of Damian Beaulieu, Zach Reese and Jocelyn Klein.

“SMSU is still offering scholarships to the winning team,” Polejewski said. “So everybody on the first-place team gets $2,000. Second place is $1,000 each and third place is $500. They just have to enroll in the culinology program at SMSU within a year. It’s a big deal.”

Newcomers Amy Jaenisch, Rachel Wordes and Whitney Wordes from Willmar Area Scholars at Home (W.A.S.H.), took top honors in the cooking competition.

“Last year was the first year here, but this is the first time the students are doing the cooking competition,” W.A.S.H. adviser Becky Jaenisch said. “It’s a very neat event. I’m really impressed. They’re very good at teaching the students.”

Lakeview senior Jared Stevens learned how to make omelets, among other things.

“I thought it was pretty amazing,” Stevens said. “(Taher Chef Brian Renz) taught us to make sure to get the eggs even make sure it’s cooked on both sides. You don’t want to give people raw food, eggs especially.”

Stevens also learned about the importance of heat and oil.

“You don’t want too much oil because otherwise it won’t work,” he said.

Stevens added that he also enjoyed the honey session, which was presented by Bill Reilly.

“I learned about different honeys and like what it does for your environment and stuff,” Stevens said.

Marshall junior Makenzie Enderson said she enjoyed the interactive sessions she attended.

“We did egg wraps, the barbecue and now the omelets,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of fun. It’s been a fun experience.”

Enderson was a little hesitant when attempting the one-handed omelet flip, but eventually got the courage to go for it — and did just fine.

“It was really nerve-wracking when I flipped it because I thought I was going to throw the eggs up and they’d land on the burner,” Enderson said. “That would be bad.”

The session featuring pulled pork prepared by barbecue guru Bill Mulso also drew a lot of attendance.

“My favorite was the pulled pork,” Marshall sophomore Courtney Schultz said. “It was really good. I also loved doing the spring rolls. I did some cake decorating, too. It was entertaining.”

Marshall adviser Kris Campion said after seeing how much the students enjoyed learning how to make spring rolls, she intends to incorporate the hands-on activity into her foods classroom.

“The spring roll session (presented by Chef Michael Broughten) was a blast,” she said. “It’s healthy, unique and something they’ve never done before. So I’m going to have my students do this in class next week — that’s if I can find the rice paper. You just roll the rice paper out, put rice noodles, carrots, cucumbers, mint and cilantro in there, roll it up like a burrito and put some sauces on it. It’s a great thing for the kids to make and eat.”

In a society where macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets and ramen noodles are extremely popular, Campion said she enjoys introducing healthier options.

“Our focus in food classes is to have the students realize that it’s not that hard to make quick and easy food on your own that is healthy,” Campion said. “But you have to try it to be comfortable.”

Minneota adviser LeaAnne Bot said the exposure to industry professionals was extremely valuable.

“They make it come alive for the students,” Bot said.