Boyer makes second trip to state SkillsUSA competition

Colby freshman Brezlyn Boyer competed in the state SkillsUSA culinary competition on April 14. This wasBoyer’s second trip to the competition as she first qualified as an eighth grader last year.

Boyer competed in the culinary arts competition where she faced off against representatives from Elkhorn, Germantown, Kewaunee and Wauzeka- Steuben High Schools as well as Mid-State Technical College. Boyer was required to create and prepare two plates each of a salad, soup and entree. All components were prepared from scratch with contestants beginning with fabricating a chicken.

Contestants were scored and tested on their organization, preparation, safety, knife skills, taste, appearance, presentation and technique. The contestants were required to demonstrate and apply food safety principles, procedures, hazard analysis and critical control points and key practices for ensuring food safety. The competitors were also asked to demonstrate and apply knowledge of proper cooking methods and techniques.

The competition was originally scheduled for March 10 but due to weather, moved back to April 14. The winners of the culinary arts competition will be announced at the State Leadership and Skills Conference at closing ceremonies the evening of Wednesday, April 26.

In a 2022 interview, Boyer said it wasn’t until she took classes with Kevin Koehler, the Colby school district’s tech ed teacher, that she learned about SkillsUSA.

“I first came upon SkillsUSA when I was just kind of sitting in here doing some work,” Boyer said. “Other students were talking about it, and I got kind of interested in it, and then we went through all the different categories and I found culinary arts and I thought it would be a good fit for me.”

Koehler said Boyer did an outstanding job in last year’s competition but she did not get to advance to the national competition despite winning at the state level.

This year, Koehler said Boyer is all the more determined to win the competition again and would accept a bid to the national competition if she were to win.

Koehler has been a technical education teacher at Colby for three years after serving as an educator in the Athens School District for six years. He has served as the SkillsUSA advisor in both districts and after a two-year Covid layoff, the competition was reinstated in 2022.