Page High School student Miriam Lassen took first place in Culinary Arts at the Family Career Community Leaders of America’s (FCCLA) national competition in early July.

The event took place from June 29 to July 3 at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. Eight thousand students competed in a variety of categories at this year’s FCCLA national competition. Lassen was one of 70 students competing in her event, Culinary Arts. Lassen, who will be a senior this year, qualified for nationals after placing second at the state competition in April. This was her second time competing at the state finals; she also did it in 2023. Students had to receive a score of 80 or better and finish in the top three to qualify for nationals.

Lassen was accompanied by her Culinary Arts teacher, Chef Wyatt Swinton, and Eugena Trujillo, one of Page High School’s CTE teachers, who joined as chaperone. The trio traveled to Las Vegas and from there flew to Seattle.

At the FCCLA Nationals, the Culinary Arts students had to prepare a two-course meal of pork medallions with a mushroom pan sauce, mixed green salad with a white wine vinaigrette, and garlic quinoa with a sauteed veggie medley.

Officials with the FCCLA told the participants ahead of time what meal they would be preparing. Then Lassen and Swinton set about practicing, preparing and perfecting every step of the meal. With Lassen’s busy summer, that involved a good amount of schedule juggling. She spent Monday through Friday in Cedar City, where she attended an Upward Bound program with Southern Utah University. She’d return home Friday night and practice making the meal with Swinton on Saturday and Sunday.

“Her schedule this summer was crazy,” said Swinton, “but she wanted to do well at nationals so she took the time to get as good as she could making this dish.”

Swinton broke down the preparation components for each piece of the meal.

“I had her go through every piece of the whole menu,” said Swinton. “Not just how to cook the pork tenderloin, but how to clean and prepare it ahead of time. We focused on single elements of each dish. We got to spend time perfecting the craft as well as perfecting the dish.”

At state and national Culinary Arts competitions, judges often introduce extra challenges to the student chefs, such as not providing them with a full set of cooking utensils. In prepping Lassen for Nationals, Swinton also threw in some  of these extra challenges.

“We didn’t know what tools she’d have available, so sometimes I’d have her prepare the dishes with a different set of utensils.”

Like pork medallions and garlic quinoa, Lassen and Swinton pair well together. Lassen is a perfectionist and Swinton is a demanding chef who pushes his students to be perfect.

“Miriam is incredibly talented,” said Swinton. “She’s a perfectionist. She’s got to do it right, and not just once. Her drive to be able to repeat it is almost robotic. Her knife skills are just so precise and predictable. Some of that is just natural ability, and some of it the time she has spent in the kitchen.”

The FCCLA is a national career and technical student organization for students in Family and Consumer Sciences education. In addition to the competition in Culinary Arts they also held competitions in baking and pastry, hospitality and tourism, early childhood education, fashion design, and other fields, as well as holding classes and lectures on leadership.

Lassen’s group, Culinary Arts, held their competition on the first day of the conference.

Swinton had full confidence in his student. “I told her, `You know what’s expected. Just cook your dish. Don’t worry about the other competitors. If you can leave the competition and say you did your best, that’s all I ask. You’re incredibly talented, and it will all work itself out.”

The student chefs had 60 minutes to prepare and cook their dishes. When the clock ran out, Lassen felt good about the meal she turned in to the judges. The judges posted the results the next day and Lassen saw that she had finished in the top ten.

“I’m pretty confident in my skills,” she said, “but I was also competing against seniors and students who had been to nationals before, who had more experience at this. I was a little surprised when I learned I had finished in the top ten.”

The top ten finishers would learn who finished in the top three during an awards ceremony at 9 a.m. on the last day of the conference.

“Our flight home was at 9 a.m., at the same time as the awards ceremony,” said Swinton. “I called the Arizona State Director for FCCLA and he strongly advised us to be at the awards ceremony. He wouldn’t tell us the results, but he knew Miriam would want to be there when the names were read.”

Swinton called Delta and told them their situation.

“They were awesome,” said Swinton. “They changed the flights for no fee.”

At the awards ceremony, Lassen and the other nine finalists came on stage when their category was presented. It felt quite surreal, Lassen said.

“I was on stage as a top ten national finalist,” Lassen said. “That alone felt pretty amazing. I had spent time in the kitchen with 70 of the best student chefs in the country, and now I was on stage with the top ten of them, and it was daunting. I was happy to be on that stage.”

Lassen recalls being proud and confident of the meal she had made. Each individual element looked beautiful. Plated together it looked even more beautiful. And it tasted amazing!

“I felt like I had a decent chance of finishing in the top three,” she said. “Yes, I was competing against the best student chefs in America, but then I remembered that none of them had to put up with Wyatt and the standards that he held me to.”

The judges announced the third-place winner and the runner-up.

“When they announced first place and I heard them say my name I almost lost all composure,” Lassen recalls. “My hand went up to my mouth and my shoulders were shaking. I couldn’t believe it.”

When Page High School Principal Leigh Guenther heard Miriam had taken first place, he wasn’t surprised at all.

“She’s an amazing kid with an amazing work ethic,” he said. “When we heard she took first place we were very happy for her, but not surprised.”

Chuck Sharp, Page High School’s CTE Director, is proud of Lassen’s accomplishments. He’s equally proud of the talents and leadership Swinton brings to the high school and its Culinary Arts program.

“He brings a lot of enthusiasm to his program and makes learning fun,” said Sharp.  

He puts so much hard work and dedication and his efforts provide results. That was apparent by Miriam taking first place at nationals. I see continued great things happening for the Culinary Arts program with Wyatt at the helm. I always tell the teachers, `Success breeds success. The kids see it and they want to be a part of it and it catches fire.’”

Swinton’s favorite anecdote from the trip was when he gave Lassen a golden spoon for good luck.

“When she competed at the state level, I gave her a silver spoon for plating and she took second overall at state,” he said. “In Seattle I gave her a golden spoon for plating and she ended up winning the gold. I think the foreshadowing of it is kind of funny the way it worked out.”

When Lassen, Swinton and Trujillo weren’t involved in the Culinary Arts competition or the awards ceremony they had time to explore Seattle. Lassen’s brother Benjamin flew in from Phoenix to support her and join her on their outings. They visited the Space Needle, Pikes Place, the International District and a Seattle Mariners game. Swinton is lifelong friends with Taylor Bennett, who grew up in Page and now works as the Mariners physical trainer. Swinton called his old friend, who got the group tickets on the first base line.

“I really appreciate what Wyatt does for me,” Lassen said. “He wanted me to soak in the moment and enjoy it. I haven’t traveled a whole lot, so it really meant a lot to go out and explore Seattle and have some fun.”

Lassen has a very active extra-curricular schedule at Page High School. She is Student Body Vice President, Vice President of the Honor Society, Culinary Club President and Vice Chair on the Youth Advisory Commission.

She has been in Swinton’s Culinary Arts classes for the last two years and this year she’ll be an intern in the program.

One of the biggest challenges Lassen and Swinton faced was getting to Seattle. It was at the end of the fiscal year and the culinary arts program didn’t have enough funds for the trip. But several local businesses came through and paid for Swinton’s, Lassen’s and Trujillo’s flights, lodging and registration fees.

    Swinton and Lassen wish to thank local businesses Kelly’s Sugar Shack, Big Ass Equipment Rentals, VFW Lefthand Leferre Post 9632, Page Elks Lodge no. 2498, Amangiri, and Craig Simmons Antelope Slot Canyon Tours.

“They completely funded the entire trip,” said Swinton. “I can’t thank them enough.”