SCHOHARIE — For the second year in a row, the culinary arts team at the Capital Region Career & Technical School in Schoharie is the best in the state.

On Feb. 9, the team competed in Hyde Park against 14 teams and made a three-course meal — an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert — in under 60 minutes, winning the New York State Restaurant Association ProStart Culinary Competition.

This year’s award-winning team has students from several local schools.

Aaron Giebitz is from Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School, Kayla Williams goes to Duanesburg High School, and Katrina Gannon and Matthew Hudson both attend Middleburgh High School. Michael Cushman, the team’s alternate, is from Schoharie High School.

When it competes again in April at the national ProStart competition in San Diego, the team will prepare the same meal — a shrimp crabcake, stuffed chicken, and cake — with some modifications.
"We know more of what they want — what they want to see, the questions that they’re going to ask us. We’re more prepared," Giebitz said of going to nationals a second time.

The culinary arts program is open to juniors and seniors. Each day, the culinary students sell bagels and cinnamon rolls to raise money. They also make lunch for the staff and students. The students have worked on projects in which they create a restaurant — consider its employees, themes, and menus. They have visited Schenectady Community College, which has a highly regarded culinary program.
"We work pretty well together," said Giebitz. "We’ve known each other from the first year," he said, "so we know what everyone’s capable of and what our weaknesses are."

Last year’s Schoharie team placed first in the state and seventh in the culinary competition at nationals. The team was comprised of four BKW students and a student from Cobleskill-Richmondville High School.
"We placed seventh last year," said Giebitz. "I would love to place first...An improvement would be great," he said. "I don’t always go to win. I’d like to win, but, at the same time, I like being judged by the best in the industry."

Again, this year’s team is led by Chef Nancy Iannacone.

Team of seniors

The Schoharie team, all seniors, signed up for the culinary program for different reasons.
"I’ve wanted to be a chef since I was, like, 10 years old," said Gannon.

Williams has aspirations to own her own restaurant in a large city.

Giebitz, who was an alternate on last year’s team, plans to attend Hudson Valley Community College for one year before joining the Marines.
"I’ve always wanted to do the military, but, after that, cooking is something I want to be doing," he said.

Giebitz joined the class, he said, because he likes to cook. As he went through the class, he said, it became more and more of an interest.
Like Giebitz, Hudson said the culinary arts were, at first, an interest. "I just have a lot of fun doing it, so I keep doing it," he said. Hudson plans to attend Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island for baking and pastry.

Teacher of the year
"Their motivation is the same," said Chef Iannacone of this year’s team compared to last year’s. "They actually scored higher. They scored about six points higher [overall], which is really hard to do...They scored higher on taste and presentation," she said. "What’s happening is I’m getting better at figuring out what it is [judges] want. Because there is that subjective component to it, like the taste."
"I’ve figured out what they want," Iannacone said. "They want to see kids working together. They want to see kids with basic skills — to be able to do the classical, basic skills, which is what should be taught and not other stuff. And they want to see execution that’s done well, and they want to see more of the classical dishes. That’s what I’m finding," she said. "And that the taste is there. Taste is 40 percent."

Four or six judges taste the dishes, give a number grade, and then average the scores.
"So, it’s pretty fair," Iannacone said, adding that a judge might like something another doesn’t like.
"Teamwork is important...They don’t want to see us pushing the kids to really over-stretch in what they think their skill level should be," said Iannacone.
Iannacone was named the 2007-08 ProStart Teacher of the Year. Asked if she feels more pressure since winning the award and her team winning last year, she said, "No. I don’t think so. I would just love to see New York State be in the top five."
"I don’t want to jinx it, but I think we have a good shot because of how well we did at states, and we’ve been fixing the things that they said needed to be fixed. They were minor things," she said.
"The only wild card is nerves," Iannacone said. "They’re young kids and there’s a lot of pressure. [The judges] stand over you with a clipboard and they stare at you, write things down as you’re working, and you can’t help but be nervous."