Among the many popular extracurricular activities at Riverside Brookfield High School is Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). This club gives students the opportunity to develop life skills through competitive events in a variety of areas, one of which is the charcuterie board competition. Students participating in FCCLA have competitions at the end of January and in February at the College of Dupage.
The past few years, RB students have been very successful in this competition and have gone to, and even placed in, state. During this event, students demonstrate their plating and knife skills in front of judges within a limited amount of time.
“Students get to come up with and design their very own charcuterie board,” applied arts teacher Grant Lewis said. “That could be something more traditional, like meats and cheeses, or we actually had a student do a dessert board last year.”
Lewis has been one of the sponsors of this club for three years along with applied arts teacher Mia Honan and encourages students to work hard to create intricate designs for their boards. He first became interested in this club at his own high school and has continued his passion by preparing RB students for competitions.
“I participated in it when I was in high school, so it was something I’ve been a part of for a long time, and I wanted to make sure it continued here at RB,” Lewis said. “I participated in salad design when I was in FCCLA and the STAR competition for culinary.”
There are two types of competitions in FCCLA, one being STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) and the other being Proficiency. STAR is where students go to a commercial kitchen and make a specific meal for the judges, whereas Proficiency consists of skill-based events. Charcuterie boards are part of Proficiency, along with other competitions in cake decorating, storytelling, or child development. Lewis helps students prepare for these competitions by practicing their meals with them after school, aiding them in perfecting their knife cuts, and giving suggestions for board designs.
“My favorite part is just watching the kids pour so much creativity and time into the projects,” Lewis said. “They are very passionate about it. They really show all their skills through it, and they create some really impressive creations and projects.”
Junior Mikaela Hogue has been a part of this club since her freshman year and went to state both years for charcuterie boards. She won state freshman year and placed again last year. Hogue has had lots of experience planning and experimenting with a variety of foods and designs.
“I sort of just buy ingredients I know I want to use and play around with it,” Hogue said. “Then I’ll tweak it with pictures and drawings, and when I’m fully done, I’ll edit one final drawing of it.”
After planning the board, Hogue practices the three knife cuts that need to be demonstrated: mince, large dice, and bayonet. However, during the competition, she has limited time to show the knife skills and create her board.
“Once you do your 10-minute knife cuts, then you’re allowed to move on, but once the 10 minutes are up, you can’t continue knife cuts,” Hogue said. “But the 50 minutes for making the actual board aren’t too bad because I have everything already prepared.”
Along with many other students, Hogue has had lots of success in this club and enjoys competing. FCCLA gives students the chance to develop many life and career skills and compete against others.
“It’s really fun,” Hogue said. “You get to go on field trips, meet new people, and Mrs. Honan and Mr. Lewis are very nice. They push you hard in a good way.”
