On September 30, 2017 South’s culinary program hosted a “Chopped” cooking competition at the Saturday Market in downtown Salem.

A “Chopped” competition is where cooks are given a set of mysterious ingredients that will become the star of the dish and they have 20 minutes to prepare it. Students were formed into four teams of two, and performed against each other in a tournament style.

After each round, there were four guest judges who tasted the team’s creation and gave them feedback on their dish. Some of the guest judges were Gerry Frank and Mayor Chuck Bennet. The winners of the event were Kirsten Derting and Ashleia Hermann.