11/02/2026
PHS Students Bring the Sizzle at the First Chopped Competition
Chartwells provided the ingredients, the students brought the sizzle and spice.
Last week, Chartwells – PUSD’s Food and Nutrition Services Provider – held its inaugural Chopped competition, where four two-person teams test their kitchen prowess to see which team has the top culinary chops.
The teams were comprised of seventh and eighth grade students Grace Harrison and Owen Young, Malia Walker and Tavor Lefthand, Abigail Pahi and Christopher Sloan, Bailee Chee and Oliver Bryant, and West Swinton and Jocelyn Dalton.
Bailee Chee and Oliver Bryant took first place. They will represent Page High School in the regional Chopped competition this January. The team of Swinton and Dalton took second place and the team of Pahe and Sloan took third place.
Chartwells provided each team with its own prep and cooking station which included cutting boards, cook stove, cutlery, pans, skillets, spoons, aprons and towels.
One of the things that makes Chopped different from other cooking competitions is that the chefs don’t know ahead of time what ingredients they’ll have to work with, thus they can’t plan ahead what meal to create.
The mystery ingredients were a Cornish game hen, green beans, oranges and sweet potatoes. The cook teams were required to use all the ingredients in their meal. The teams were also allowed to use ingredients from a common pantry: salt, pepper and seasonings, cooking oil and butter, flour, sugar, milk, cream, eggs, garlic, onion, vegetables and basic condiments.
After the mystery ingredients were revealed, the students had five minutes to discuss what they wanted to create. They then had 60 minutes to cook, prep and plate their food.
The event was held in the Page High School gym. Coverings were placed on the gym floor to protect it from spills and foot traffic. High school classes were allowed to come by and watch.
Grace Harrison, a seventh grader, was one of the chefs in the Chopped competition. She also competed in last year’s Discovery Kitchen Cookoff. She really enjoyed being part of it. Outside of school, Harrison loves spending time in the kitchen at home. Looking up new recipes on Pinterest and making them for the first time is one of her favorite things to do.
“A couple weeks ago I made pot pie, and I was really happy with how it turned out,” she said.
The Chopped Competition was right up her alley. She was happy with how her meal turned out, but would have made some adjustments if she was making it in her own kitchen.
“There was more I could have added to it to make it better, but I think we did pretty good.”
Jocelyn Dalton, a seventh-grader, described the competition as “fun, with a little bit of stress.” It was her first time doing a cooking competition. She was paired with Wes Swinton.
Despite the low-key stress, she was happy she took part in the contest and was proud of the dish her team gave to the judges. She and Swinton ended up taking second place for their creation.
Two years ago, Chartwells introduced Discovery Kitchen to PUSD schools and they held the competition again last year. In Discovery Kitchen, an elementary aged students gets paired with a professional chef from an area restaurant. As a team, they work together to combine ingredients into the best version of the dish they can. The team gets to decide ahead of time what dish they want to create.
The Chopped Competition shares some similarities to Discovery Kitchen but it’s different in four key ways. First, two students are paired together without a professional chef to guide them. Second, they are middle-school aged (7th and 8th grade) students, rather than elementary-aged students. Third, they don’t know ahead of time what dish they will be preparing. In fact, Chartwells provides them with the ingredients and they are free to create any meal they want using those ingredients. Fourth, the winning team will go on to compete against other student chefs at an inter-regional competition.
“One of the ideas behind the competition is to showcase that Chartwells can do more than provide meals for schools,” said Klay. “We can also provide culinary-based activities and competitions, such as Discovery Kitchen and Chopped, to open an opportunity for kids who might be inclined to pursue culinary careers.”
Klay was impressed by what the student chefs created, especially since they had no idea beforehand what ingredients they’d be working with.
“They really conquered it,” said Klay. “At their age to be able to create a delicious meal out of Cornish hens, green beans and oranges. That right there was the ultimate challenge.”
The final dishes were judged by Page High School Principal Mary Stahl, PUSD Superintendent Dr. Bryce Anderson and Coconino County Superintendent of Schools, Cheryl Mango Paget.
“They did very well,” said Principal Stahl. “They handled the challenge of cooking without knowing ahead of time what their ingredients were going to be. They were brave for even coming out and trying it in the first place.”
