 Alexis Wells, a Culinary Arts II student, took first place at the SkillsUSA Culinary Arts challenge March 22.
Wells competed against 13 other students from KCC, Homer, Kenai and the Valley. Wells will represent Alaska at the national competition in Kansas City June 24, challenging 49 other competitors.
SkillsUSA is a national program that prepares students for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. A win at one of their competitions is a high honor, and can be a big boost to students who want to pursue a culinary career.
“Alexis displayed amazing professionalism and sportsmanship during the contest,” said Chef Kellie Puff, KCC Culinary Instructor. “She loaned out her equipment to other students who didn’t have what was needed, and helped everyone clean up without being asked.”
Four other KCC students participated in the all-day event at the Career Tech School in Wasilla, including Nate Rochon, Jalijah Bennett, Mick Thompson and Christina Christ. The KCC students put in about 40 hours of rehearsal time outside of regular class, coming in after school and during spring break for additional practice.
Participants were judged partly on their knife cutting skills. The chicken had to be cut (fabricated) into eight specific pieces, and there were six types of vegetable cuts, all used for their salad and entrée dishes. Each chef had 90 minutes to prepare the entrée and 30 minutes to make a salad. They finished by presenting judges with two identical plates of salad with emulsified vinaigrette, pan-seared chicken breast, mushroom pan sauce, glazed carrots, sautéed spinach and rice pilaf. Contestants also took a detailed written test on Thursday evening covering culinary arts and professionalism, with the points were factored into their overall score.
| KCC Students volunteer for Iron Dog Urban-Rural Student Exchange |
 Five King Career Center students will be following the Iron Dog snowmachine race across Alaska this February. It’s the third year KCC students have participated in the Iron Dog Urban-Rural Student Exchange.
Billed as the world’s longest, toughest snowmobile race, the Iron Dog begins at Big Lake on February 15 (Trail class) and Feburary 17 (Pro class). Two-man teams race to Nome, rest, and then continue to the finish line in Fairbanks.
The KCC students will serve as volunteers for the event. They’ll be at the starting line in Big Lake and at the finish in Fairbanks, putting up the stakes and chutes to guide the racers and the crowd, and doing all the clean-up as well.
The students will travel to Big Lake, Galena and Fairbanks. In all the students will log more than 1000 miles.
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| Carpentry student puts skills to work with storm relief |
 KCC student Mackie Franks, at right, put his construction training to work when he and his father went to help a friend in New Jersey rebuild after Hurricane Sandy.
Franks and his father flew to New Jersey as soon as the floodwaters receded. Their friend’s waterfront home had been devastated by the storm. The surge took out a brick wall and destroyed the first floor of the home, coating it in a slurry of water and sand.
Mackie spent long days cleaning up sand, tearing up carpet, ripping out walls and salvaging bricks. The bricks will be recycled into a new wall, rebuilt with fresh mortar.
Looting was a problem, so Mackie and his father had to go through checkpoints every day to enter or leave the neighborhood. “There were volunteers everywhere, so there was a lot of teamwork,” he said. “It was a difficult situation, but everyone worked together. It felt good to be doing something to help.”
Mackie would have liked to use more of his carpentry skills, but the greatest need was cleanup. “The insurance companies hadn’t arrived yet, so we had to wait on the rebuilding,” he said.
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| Auto Maintenance class Thinks Big |
 Think Big is a heavy duty diesel mechanic apprenticeship that combines enrollment at Portland Community College with practical hands-on training at NC Machinery in Anchorage.
Kay Siira, HR director for NC Machinery, visited the Automotive Maintenance Technology class and gave a presentation about the Think Big Program for diesel mechanics. Accompanying her was Angie Fox, former student of David Nix, Automotive Maintenance Technology instructor. Angie went through the Think Big Program at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon, and is now a full time diesel mechanic specializing in heavy equipment transmissions at NC Machinery in Anchorage. MORE>>
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| BMW engineer got his start at KCC |
 School was not Craig Jackson’s favorite part of the day, but while taking the auto maintenance class at King Career Center, Jackson discovered he loved working on cars. Then a presentation at KCC from Universal Technical Institute (UTI) representative, David Pearce, gave him a spark of interest in learning electronics on cars, and suddenly he had direction for his future.
Only a few years out of high school, Jackson now has an elite job. There are only 56 Technical Support Engineers for BMW in the nation, and he is one of them. >>MORE
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Special Dates
partly due to construction. ASDiSchool, located at KCC, is open this summer.
Call 742-1230 for more information.
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