Blue Hills Regional Technical School Culinary Program Scores First Place in SkillsUSA MRE Challenge for Second Consecutive Year
CANTON – Superintendent-Director Jill Rossetti, Principal Geoff Zini, and Lead Culinary Arts Instructor Richard Spada are proud to share that the Blue Hills Regional Technical School’s Culinary Arts program recently won the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge.
On Oct. 29, teams of students from across Massachusetts competed at the Massachusetts Army National Guard Armory in Natick to create an appetizer, entree, dessert, and beverage out of six randomly selected MRE meal packages. Students could only use the ingredients and heaters inside the MRE packages to create their meals. They had 30 minutes to sort through the packages and plan their meals and 90 minutes to create the four courses.
The team of seniors Ayianna Rosa and Nafisa Apatira and junior Ian Kreger, who took first place last year, also created this year’s winning entry. They prepared and served beef jambalaya, pulled pork taquito, chocolate trifle, and cranberry limeade.
Guard members, culinary instructors, and SkillsUSA officials judged teams on three categories: Taste, Presentation, and Creativity. The Blue Hills team won first place in Taste, third place in Presentation, and, for the second year in a row, first place overall. In addition to plaques and medals, the team took home several prizes, including knife kits.
All three team members will compete in February at the Massachusetts ProStart Invitational at Gillette Stadium. Rosa and Kreger will compete in the Culinary Team Competition, and Apatira will compete in the Cake Decorating Competition.
While MREs, the standard field rations used in the US Armed Forces, come in different flavors and combinations, the ingredients are limited, and the ration is designed to be eaten on the go. The MRE kit includes a Flameless Ration Heater (FRH), which students had to utilize to prepare the food. The tool uses a similar mechanism as a hand warmer and gets hot to ensure that food is warm.
The Blue Hills team would like to thank Blue Hills Regional SkillsUSA Coordinator Janice Lavoie for chaperoning the trip and Canton Veterans Agent Arafat Knight and his office for providing extra MRE packs for the team to practice with leading up to the competition.
“I’m very proud of the team for coming back this year and taking another first-place plaque home,” Lead Culinary Arts Instructor Spada said. “They worked hard leading up to the competition, which paid off on the day of. I’m excited to see Ayianna, Nafisa, and Ian continue to thrive and compete at the ProStart Invitational competition in February.”
“I am immensely proud of Ayianna, Nafisa, and Ian for their remarkable achievement in winning the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge for the second straight year,” Superintendent-Director Rossetti said. “The consecutive first-place finishes are a testament to their dedication, hard work, preparation, and teamwork.”
The first-place plaques that Blue Hills Regional Technical High School students received for winning the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge. (Photo courtesy Blue Hills Regional Technical School)
An MRE created by the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School students who won first place in the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge. (Photo courtesy Blue Hills Regional Technical School)
An MRE created by the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School students who won first place in the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge. (Photo courtesy Blue Hills Regional Technical School)
An MRE created by the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School students who won first place in the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge. (Photo courtesy Blue Hills Regional Technical School)
Blue Hills Regional Technical High School students Ayianna Rosa, Ian Kreger, and Nafisa Apatira compete in the SkillsUSA Massachusetts MRE Challenge. (Photo courtesy Blue Hills Regional Technical School)