Budding chefs take third place

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

Encampment High School’s pro start cooking team finished third in February’s state competition in Jackson.

As part of it’s presentation to the Carbon County District 2 School Board on Monday night, the team had School Board members taste part of their winning menu.

In hard taco-like shells the size of silver dollars was a relish made of corn and cilantro. The budding chefs called it “cowboy caviar.”

Encampment competed against many 3A and 4A teams. “Often, our 1A team is competing against the bigger schools simply because those schools can support that type of program,” said Bob Gates, District 2 superintendent.

According to a report from the Wyoming Lodge and Restaurant Association, the judges sincerely sought to hire the winning students to work in professional restaurants.
Encampment finished behind Cheyenne East and Cheyenne Central. They competed among 160 students from 17 schools.

Also at the meeting, School Board members:

• Decided to keep the current District 2 schedules for another year, giving schools another chance to fine tune the schedules and try to address any lingering issues.

• Heard updates on ongoing construction projects in Medicine Bow and Elk Mountain. Gates reported that the design and budget for both projects are nearly complete and are about halfway through the stages of approval from the School Facilities Commission. Construction should begin this summer.

• Agreed to collaborate with the town of Encampment on an emergency management and disaster mitigation plan. Encampment officials drafted the plan to include the use of district busses and facilities in the event that a natural disaster left its population homeless or in need of help.