Story, photos by Dale M. King
BOCA RATON – There was J.C. Perrin, a banker, dressed in an apron, pulling up dollops of linguine and placing them onto a bed of spicy red clam sauce.
Preparing a dinner item is Brenda Coto.
A similarly aproned Troy McLellan, in reality the president of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, was grilling a loaf of bread cut in half lengthwise.
Tim Snow, the head of a local scholarship foundation, was working on a sauce for corn-filled ravioli.
This wasn’t the boardroom, and Donald Trump was nowhere in site. This was actually the Culinary Academy kitchen at West Boca Raton High School, where student “apprentices” were recently partnered with civic leaders and teachers to concoct a variety of delicacies as part of the “Chef’s Apprentice” competition.
The idea, said Academy Coordinator Susan Bantang, was to “showcase the advisory board and student chefs.”
The event took place at the final meeting of the school year for the Community Academy Advisory Board (CAAB), is a group of local business, industry and education leaders whose mission is to offer its experience, expertise and resources to prepare Academy students to succeed in a global economy.
Greg Rawling puts out a plate of his just-prepared chicken
The first “Chef’s Apprentice” competition featured 10 Culinary Teams, each made up of a CAAB member and one Culinary Arts Academy student. The Culinary Arts Academy has been designated a “Model” Academy by the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC).
For half an hour, the kitchen was filled with aromas ranging from fresh bread to delectable chocolate chip cookies. Each CAAB member was to prepare their favorite appetizer/salad, main entrée or dessert with the assistance of a Culinary Arts student:
In the end, a team of judges selected the following winners:
First place, Tim Snow, George Snow Scholarship Fund and Helcio Abreu, who made white corn ravioli.
Second place: Troy McLellan, Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce and Jeremy Salamon who created an updated grilled cheese sandwich.
Third place, Joe Pores of Call4Health and Carlla Sabino, who created Alexia’s Chicken.
Judges loved the selections
The judging was intense as TV cameras roamed around and the panel dug into the goodies, flipped pages on clipboards to keep track of points.
Also taking part in the competition were: J.C. Perrin, vice president, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank; Barbara Weiss, director of Community Relations, Johnson & Wales University; Brenda Coto, managing director of Technology & Innovation, FAU College of Engineering & Computer Science; Craig Heiser, vice president, Whiting-Turner Construction; Tom Hellyer, instructor, WBRHS Drafting & Design Academy; Greg Rawling, instructor, WBRHS Medical Sciences Academy and Gracelyn Stuart-Tuggle, accounting instructor, Palm Beach State College.
And all the spectators got a prize at the end. They got to eat what the judges didn’t consume.