The Winter Springs High School Culinary and Hospitality programs are getting prepared for their big Anchors Away Gala, which will be held at the Hilton Altamonte Springs hotel on February 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Students from the culinary program will be going on a field trip on February 14-15 to the Hilton to prepare and get practical culinary experience. Thursday, they will spend all day prepping all the food.  Then on Friday, they will finish prep before the event at 6:30.

This is an event that has been hosted by WSHS for many years. The Hilton allows the Culinary and Hospitality programs to use their kitchen and ballroom to learn how to throw a gala and work in a real kitchen.

Chef Dane Brevoort says, “They work with us so the kids can get an experience in a working kitchen.”

This event also serves as a fundraiser for a different charity every year. This year, proceeds will go to the Helpful Hands Organization. There will be a silent auction where attendees can bid on donated items. Last year, they were able to raise nearly $4,000 for the charity.

This is a student-run event. There will be live-action stations for some of the courses where the meal will be finished and plated in front of you by the students. Some examples of the action stations that will be there include a meat carving station, a pasta bar, a salad bar and a mashed potato bar. The desert will be a devil’s food cake with raspberry and topped with a chocolate anchor.

This event is open to anyone, but there will be many VIP guests. These include the mayors of Casselberry and Winter Springs and some school board members. It is anticipated that there will be over 150 guests attending this event this year.