SOUTHAVEN — Six East Mississippi Community College students in the culinary and marketing programs took top honors in the state in the 2016 Collegiate DECA Mississippi competition in Southaven and will represent Mississippi in an international competition in Washington, D.C., in April.
Led by EMCC Culinary Arts Instructor Chef Shannon Lindell, three students in the Culinary Arts Technology Program competed against eight other college programs and took first place in the Restaurant and Food Management category. Those students are Gene Colbert, of West Point, and Larry Joe Brownlee and Anthony Prowell, both of Columbus.
Marketing student Ryan Dye, of Columbus, competed against four other colleges and took first place in the Professional Sales Presentation category.
Also, marketing students Alice Ward, of Starkville, and Jamie Beams, of Columbus, took first place in the category of Business to Business Marketing Case Study.
Dye was tasked with preparing a sales presentation and acted as a representative for Columbus-based Core Fitness Center.
“The judge said Ryan was the only contestant to actually close the sale in the competition,” said Dr. Joshua Carroll, EMCC instructor of Business and Marketing Management Technology, who serves as the DECA adviser.
Through no fault of their own, the three culinary students were almost disqualified from the competition when judges determined the internal temperature of the pork tenderloin they had cooked had only reached 115 degrees.
“They found out that the thermometer supplied at the competition was faulty and the reading was too cool by 35 degrees,” Lindell said. “When the judges cut the pork tenderloin open they found it was cooked perfectly.”
For the contest, two weeks ago the culinary students were sent a list of ingredients from which they were required to create a recipe. What they came up with was the pork tenderloin stuffed with cream cheese andouille served over wild rice, with a side dish of mixed vegetables topped with apple slaw.
The students had to not only cook and serve the dish but also gave a presentation to the judges.
“We went in with the attitude that if we did our best we would be happy,” Lindell said. “When they called out first place for our team I lost it. I was so excited for them.”
All six EMCC students will attend the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference in Washington D.C. April 16-19. They will compete against more than 1,000 other DECA Collegiate winners for international honors.
According to the organization’s website, DECA’s purpose is to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
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