Shawnee Mission Culinary Students Win Gold Medal

Shawnee Mission culinary arts students brought home the gold from one of their most recent competitions.

Representing the Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD), two student chef teams led by Bistro Chef and teacher Steve Venne, took part in the Johnson County Community College (JCCC) Culinary Competition. 

A group of students won gold medals and a $500 scholarship for each team member. There were 14 teams competing from Kansas and Missouri high schools.

“I was super pleased with how the kids represented themselves and performed,” Venne expressed.

Each team was asked to make a salad or appetizer, entrée, and dessert in one hour. The winning menu included an appetizer of glazed bacon-wrapped jalapeno shrimp on crispy creamer potatoes and chorizo with avocado cilantro aioli, an entrée of pork cheek barbacoa tostada with corn fritters, pickled red cabbage and black beans, and a dessert of cinnamon white chocolate diplomat cake with mango and chamoy.

Students needed to display two classical knife cuts and use at least two different cooking methods. Local chefs served as judges who evaluated the students on sanitation skills, overall cooking skills, and well-seasoned food. 

 “The team was dedicated to improvement and open to critiques and coaching,” Venne added. “They came to practice prepared and stayed focused on the goal.”

The competition is hosted each year by JCCC for metro area high school students. 

Find out more about SMSD culinary arts and the Broadmoor Bistro, SMSD’s student-run restaurant here.

Competitors include:

Earning Gold: Tobin Watkins, senior from Shawnee Mission West, Xaver Miti, senior from Shawnee Mission North, Morgan Dusin, senior from Shawnee Mission South, and Kaori Peterson, senior from Shawnee Mission North

Earning fifth place: Alex Gonzalez, senior from Shawnee Mission Northwest, Chris LaSauer, senior from Shawnee Mission South, Josh Gardner, sophomore from Shawnee Mission South, and Noah Belcher, a senior from DeSoto who attends SMSD’s culinary program.