Five out of the 11 students from Holy Rosary High School will move on to provincials after competing at the Regional Skills Canada Competition.
Seven students took home medals including, two culinary students who will also be competing in provincials. Chef Educator at Holy Rosary High School (HRHS) Rick Lucas says that Holy Rosary was successful in the competition because of their passionate students and staff.
“I think we got passionate people, we got passionate students that are competing. It’s one thing if you go explore a trade it’s another thing if you really have the passion to maybe grab onto the trade and get into it.”
Grade 10 Student Michaela McPherson won gold in the culinary competition. She says the competition helped her in growing her skills.
“I think it helped a lot, especially when I got there, there was new things I had to adapt to like the judges they had told me for example to scale down my recipes, which I hadn’t done before. So that kind of threw me off a little bit, but then I did the best I could with the time I had.”
McPherson made a minestrone soup, as well as roasted root vegetables, Bearnaise sauce, mashed potatoes and medium rare steak for the main course that got her to the next round of competition.
Provincials will take place in Edmonton from May 31 to June 1 and Lucas says that the scope gets enhanced significantly.
“There’s a secret sauce for the culinary kids, so we have to practice a number of different secret sauces so that they’re equipped to roll with that and then they’ve got a desert that’s been added to their plate. Now it’s a matter of training up for all that all within the time constraints.”
McPherson says that she is nervous for provincials, but being a chef is something she is aspiring to be.
“Like most kids I don’t know what I want to do yet and I think that’s a good place to start that I can make money and travel because there’s restaurants everywhere. So really getting the most experience I can right now is really important.”
One student in baking, a public speaking student and a photography student are also competing in provincials.