Students show off skills during school challenge

OXFORD HILLS — Students at the Oxford Hills Technical School are far beyond talented, and on January 19 they were given the opportunity to show off their skills during the school's first-ever Skills Challenge.  

Students demonstrated knowledge in areas such as auto-collision repair, pre-engineering, marketing, building construction, fashion design, and culinary arts. At the end of the day, each student was judged on how well they performed their unique skill. Some even got to take home a silver, bronze, or gold medal.

Miranda Levesque, a junior at the technical school, showed off her cooking skills.

In the kitchen, Levesque worked busily to prepare her meal for the judges: chicken kabobs with grilled onions, garlic-roasted red potatoes, Arugula salad with a lemon-Parmesan dressing, honey-glazed carrots; and for dessert, white chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting and homemade vanilla ice cream.

"I definitely want to go to college for this," said Levesque, as she chopped potatoes and threw them into a giant silver mixing bowl. "The Food Channel is my favorite."

Levesque said she first became interested in culinary arts after her mother taught her to bake. So, she decided to enroll in the culinary arts program at OHTS her sophomore year, and has loved it ever since.

"Someday, I want to open my own bake shop. I want it to be in a city. I want to move out of Maine," said Levesque, who plans to study culinary arts after high school. According to Levesque, the Culinary Institute of America is her top choice of colleges.

Students were given approximately three hours to prepare their own unique dish, with boneless skinless chicken breast as their main item. They made shish kabobs, pan sauteed chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and more.

According to culinary arts instructor Norma Smith, each student was required to also include a starch, a vegetable, and a dessert. All dishes were to be homemade; no box mixes, pre-made crust or shells, sauces or gravies were allowed. Vegetables and fruits were to be fresh or frozen, according to the culinary challenge guidelines.

But following these guidelines was a piece of cake, according to Arielle Williams, another junior chef.

"I am feeling confident," she said, as she prepared her mushroom risotto. Williams' menu also featured lemon-garlic chicken, roasted beets with orange and thyme, roasted Brussels sprouts, and a pot de creme (baked chocolate pudding with raspberry sauce and whipped cream), for dessert.

Williams said that her father taught her how to cook.

"I grew up watching him," said Williams. "When we lived in Mexico, he owned a restaurant called Al Nito." Williams said that she plans to open her own restaurant someday.

"I want it to be Italian. I love Italian food," she said.

Williams plans to study culinary arts in college. So far, she has applied to Southern Maine Community College, Johnson and Wales University, and, like Levesque, the Culinary Institute of America.

According to both aspiring chefs, this was the first time either of them has been judged on their cooking skills.

"It's kind of nerve-wracking," said Williams. "I am nervous that I will run out of time. I started late on the beets." But Williams kept smiling as she approached the final judging.

A panel of three judges from the Culinary Arts Advisory Board was on hand to score each contestant's meal on the following: aroma, flavor, doneness, creative used of ingredients, and knowledge of the ingredients used.

Each category was graded on a scale of 1-5, with five being the best. 

Students were also assessed on safety, sanitation, timing, presentation, and salability.

Winners were awarded a silver, bronze, or gold medal. The 2012 Skills Challenge culinary arts winners are: Gold – Micaela Smith; Bronze – Arielle Williams; Silver – Gemma Young.

Down the hallway, first-year fashion design students worked quietly on their sewing machines creating samples of the stitches used in the clothing construction process. Second- and third-year students worked on adjusting the serger to a rolled hem, and produced scarves.

Instructor Lori Millett said that the students were being judged on the quality of their stitches, rather than the quantity.

"There's a lot of great stuff that comes out of here," she said.

According to Millett, the students have been making scarves and selling them to help pay for a student-run fashion show. The money will also help to pay for field trips and other student needs, she said.

"It's a great fundraiser, and we are free labor, so it works out," said Amanda Swain, a senior who claims she loves fashion design more than anything.

"I love making what I wear," she said. "I love how much thought goes into making each piece of clothing. I've always liked it. I took this Spanish class once, where we had to make a flamenco dress. That's when I got into sewing."

Swain has already applied and been accepted into six colleges, including Savannah College of Art and Design, University of Rhode Island, Drexel University, Framingham State College, Lasell College, and Kent State University.

Eventually, she would like to start her own clothing business.

"I would like to have my own [clothing] line and be rich and famous," she said. "I want to design my own knitwear. Many people wear it, but not many people design it. I want to make affordable clothes."

The 2012 Skill Challenge fashion design winners were broken up into two categories. Winners include: (1) Gold – Michaela Frechette; Silver – Heidi Ortiz; Bronze – Anna Skellenger; (2) Gold – Andrea Andrews; Silver – Lacey Landry; Bronze – Amanda Swain.

 According to Shawn Lambert, technical school director, first place winners in each program are given the opportunity to participate in the Skills USA competition in Bangor in March. Lambert said that the participation rate among students at the OHTS in the Skills Challenge events is three times more than the state average of student participation.

The other Skills Challenge programs included law enforcement, ad communications, engineering and architectural design, diversified occupations, graphics and printing, graphic design, auto technology, forestry, allied health, business studies, computer technology, and cooperative education.

Lambert said that the school's goal is to not only prepare students for a career, but to also bring the students together and give the public the opportunity to see just how talented the students are at OHTS. 

According to Lambert, the school plans to hold the OHTS Skills Challenge every year.

"I want everyone to see that, this is what we do."