West Ridge High School culinary students win at national competition

SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — West Ridge High School culinary students won several awards at Walt Disney World’s Cook Around the World National Competition, which took place April 26-29.

News Channel 11 spoke with Nicki Hurlbert, a baking and pastry teacher at West Ridge.

“It meant everything, lots of jumping up and down, lots of screaming, lots of excitement, lots of tears, crying from tears of joy, but absolutely I think it meant the world to them,” Hurlbert said.

The West Ridge Culinary Team won the following:

• Appetizer Session 1 – 1st place
• Appetizer Session 1 – 2nd place
• Entree Session 1 – 1st place
• Entree Session 1 – 2nd place
• 1st in African food from all three sessions
• Judges Award for Creative Outfits
• Top Overall Scores from all three sessions

Hurlbert said these winnings are “kind of unheard of” and said West Ridge is proud of its students.

“Doing this really put Sullivan County on the map and kind of opened up everyone’s eyes to this little county in Tennessee, so it was a whole lot of fun to represent our area and our school and get things going for us in cooking,” said Emma Johnson, senior and culinary student.

Johnson said the team was dedicated to a strict practice schedule.

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