Competing for the first time in the Hospitality and Tourism cluster on the state level, Westside’s Culinary Quiz Bowl Team took the bronze in the State Championship. Exemplifying grit, this brand new team had to think on their feet as the rules of the contest completely changed from what they had been practicing. The Culinary Quiz Bowl Competition was held March 31st through April 2nd at the Emerald Beach Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas, with the awards ceremony in the American Bank Center.

This competition was part of the student run national organization Skills USA. We have our own chapter here at Westside. There are dozens of different disciplines students can compete in. Senior Lucia Batres won a silver in the district Culinary Skills competition and Luna Martinez (10) won gold in the Restaurant Service category.  Skills USA is Westside’s CTSO, which stands for Career and Technical Student Organization. Chef Bell has been a sponsor in Skills USA for about seven years.

According to Chef Bell, “The questions they studied were all excluded from the competition, which made the contest full of pure random culinaryrelated questions.” This brand new team , with six of the seven students also new to any type of competition excelled with questions pertaining to culinary, baking, hospitality, and current events. Their perserverance stood out, and they pulled a Silver in district and a Bronze on the State level. Through pure effort, “we are more than proud of them!” Chef Bell exclaimed.

Culinary Quiz Bowl Team

Ameera Boulaknadal (9); Introduction to Culinary

Ewhoma Akpiruo (10); Culinary

Luna Martinez (10); Culinary

Baily Bounds (12); Practicum in Culinary

Mary Edie- (11) ; Advanced Culinary

Esabelia Weaver (10); Introduction to Culinary

Amani Hardy- (11); Advanced Culinary