Recently, at Winter Springs High School, Ms. Swartz Culinary 1 class held a pancake competition. Six groups competed by baking pancakes for Judges. The groups had planned their pancakes the week before and they had partaken in a practice pancake competition. Each group had to write down the ingredients and the steps for the pancakes on a sheet of paper and turn it into Ms. Swartz so she could have the ingredients ready for when the competition started.
All the groups picked one pancake recipe to cook for the judges. For example, in Ms. Swartz’s third period, group one decided to make churro pancakes. They made cinnamon pancakes with chocolate drizzle, which the judges loved. The judges included DR. Vickers, the Newspaper/ journalism teacher, Ms. Canteenwalla, the ASL teacher, Dr. Skip Garner, the Support Facilitator, Ms. Williams, one of our wonderful math teachers, and a few more staff. The judges liked many of the pancakes and Dr. Vickers said “I thought that all of the students did a great job. It was hard to choose a favorite. I loved all of the pancakes that incorporated fruit, chocolate, or homemade cream.” Many of the Judges had fun judging the competition including Dr. Vickers, she said “In judging, I got the opportunity to sample so many different recipes and I got to witness the students hard at work preparing their dishes. It showed me just how much effort goes into preparing for a competition.” so overall it was a good experience for everyone involved.
The day after the competition, the results were posted on the board. In each period there are three winning groups. Each group that wins gets to choose a prize from the four options on the board. First place chooses first, second chooses second, etc. Some of the prizes included Free Cook, where the group can spend a free day cooking/baking a dish of their choice, or they could choose to receive Candy, Bear Bucks, or marking off the student’s lowest grade at the end of the quarter. In Ms. Swartz third period, Two teams tied for first so they had to compete in a laundry folding battle to see which group got to choose what they wanted off the prize board first.
