I can trace my passion for baking all the way back to my great grandmother. She was a terrific baker and could make just about anything. I love baking because it is calming and almost therapeutic to me. To see the customer's requests and desires come to life and know that I am responsible for making their day that much brighter brings me so much joy and satisfaction in a job well done. Baking is by no stretch of the imagination simple, but being able to bring that spark of joy and excitement to a little kid when they see their birthday cake, or the adult that gets surprised with an anniversary present blesses me in a way almost nothing else can. My passion with baking lies in decorating cakes. My two favorite classes in Pastry school are European cakes and tortes and cake design and decorating. One of my most popular requests from my limited clientele is my pumpkin cream cheese roll. In my short home baking career, I have made birthday cakes, anniversary cakes, just-because-I-want-cake cakes, and even my first wedding cake. I have done highland cow cupcakes for a baby girl shower, a sasquatch cake for an adult big-foot enthusiast, a unicorn cake for a little girl's birthday party, and an elegant coconut cake for an 18th birthday celebration, just to name a few. I am also pursuing interests in culinary competitions. I started in 2024 by competing on my school's 5 person culinary hot foods team at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. I was mainly in charge of the dessert aspect, and after two successful competitions, my teammates and I brought home gold medals and the title of National Student Team of the Year. I am currently practicing to compete in another American Culinary Federation accredited competition for Student Pastry Chef of the Year. This is a Regional competition and if I get a high enough score, I will advance to the next competition to vie for a national title. I worked in a small bakery to get some experience of behind the scenes management as well as the day to day operations of baking and customer service. I want to work in a number of different places, both high-end elegant hotels and country clubs and lower maintenance charming bakeries and cafes, to get as much experience as possible in a vast array of work environments over the next several years. My ultimate goal is to open my own bakery in my hometown near Western North Carolina. I have built a small following of loyal customers so far, and I look forward to where this next chapter of my life takes me!

I started playing softball when I was nine years old. It was a very interesting season because there were not enough girls to form a team in my age bracket. So, I ended up playing in a mixed league with girls as old as thirteen. To say I had to learn quickly would be an understatement. One of the pitchers for the team we played the most often was throwing upwards of fifty miles per hour at just thirteen years old. Even though I was young, by working hard and listening to my coaches, I was able to get a hit off of her by the end of the season. Every year since then except for the year after COVID hit, I have played this wonderful sport. After graduating high school, I did not play in college because I went to my local community college to study culinary arts and they have a world-renowned program. While there, however, I did take the teamwork and leadership skills that I had learned while playing softball and applied them to functioning as part of a five-person cooking team. Many of the skills I had perfected in my favorite sport transferred or could be adapted to this new team setting. Attention to detail, hand-eye coordination, organization, and personal responsibility were some of the most used skills. As it turned out, we were the best team in the country in 2024 and won gold medals and the title of American Culinary Federation Student Team of the Year. It was great to be such an integral part of a team again. Since I am no longer able to play softball, for the past seven years I have been an assistant coach for my little sister's softball teams. For two years prior to that, I helped as a running and sliding coach even though I was only thirteen at the time. Because I was closer to their age and currently in the sport, I was able to show the girls what to do rather than just tell them like most coaches and most of them excelled in these areas. Going forward, I want to continue to volunteer my time to this sport and these deserving girls. Unfortunately, many places are cutting the sport of softball from their schools and recreation leagues. We need to be investing more time and offering places for these girls to play instead of cutting programs and not giving them a space to play this wonderful sport. I want to have a part in keeping this sport alive for the next generation.

Ministering to children has always appealed to me. When I was ten years old, I went to summer camp in Tennessee, and it literally changed my life. My parents have been involved in some kind of children's outreach for almost 25 years and I have been working alongside them for the past 8 years. I have volunteered with a local sports organization for a little over five years, from 2017-2022. I was a volunteer in the concession stand and helped with field maintenance such as lining the fields, raking, and putting out and retrieving bases before and after the games. For the past five years, I have helped coach my little sister's softball team. I try to help these girls succeed both on and off the field by teaching them sports skills, as well as good characteristics like how to be a gracious loser, how to resolve conflicts peacefully, how to take instruction and corrective criticism well, and how to be a good listener. I have helped in my church's nursery and Vacation Bible School ministries. I am very creative and crafty and helped with decorating the rooms with whatever the chosen theme for that year was. Seeing the kids' faces light up when they saw the themed rooms including wallpaper, ceiling decorations, and even table adornments was utterly fulfilling and pleasing. I had so many people invest time and energy in me as a kid and I know I would not be where I am today without all their help. I want to help invest in future generations and give them the support that I had. I just finished an Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts this past spring. Now I am working toward an associate's in both Office Administration: General Office and Office Administration: Finance. I want to be learn how to run a business so that I can open my own bakery. Once I do, my goal is to be able to take one to two weeks off every summer and be able to help out at a children's camp like the one I went to when I was a young child. I would also love to be in a position to hold beginner baking classes to teach kids how to make cookies and decorate cupcakes. Teaching them life skills is an important aspect of growing up, and I just might be able to help someone else the way that baking helped me to grow and adapt to new situations. Kids these days often get overlooked or treated as less than or not as important as adults. I want to help bring out the best characteristics in these kids and help them find the right path for their lives. Without kids, our planet is doomed, so we need to invest in them while we can, give them the life skills they need to be able to do great things for our world, and build them up with the confidence they need to face the hard things and problems life will throw their way.

I attended a very small private high school which did not have enough students for any kind of organized sports. I started playing softball when I was just 9 years old, so I was very sad when I thought I did not have a place to play anymore. So, when the opportunity to play softball for a homeschool/private school team arose, I jumped at the chance to play my favorite sport. In 2020, we were having our best year yet, but it got cut short due to COVID-19. The saddest part was not getting to celebrate our seniors. Even though I didn't get to play all four years of my high school career, I was still very glad that I was able to play at all. Now that I am too old for high school sports, I like to give back by volunteering my time with my little sister's softball team. I have helped coach, done field maintenance, and kept score for the team. Showing the girls how to run bases and how to slide was my favorite part. Helping these young girls not only in my favorite sport, but also in life and coping with their challenges has been very rewarding to me. I have been enrolled in Culinary school for the past three years and have learned so much from the amazing, knowledgeable instructors there. They are so selfless, giving countless hours to help the next generation of upcoming chefs and bakers. I do not necessarily want to teach full time, but I do try to give back whenever I can because these teachers have been such an influence in my life. I was able, with their help and teaching, to compete on a Culinary team that won two American Culinary Federation accredited competitions last year. I know I could not have done as well as I did without all the time and effort they invested into me. This scholarship money would go to furthering my knowledge and abilities as a pastry chef by allowing me the funds necessary to compete in another competition. This one would be an individual Student Pastry Chef competition, also hosted by the ACF. I am a full-time student and participate in a work-study program through my school, so I do not have the time to work another job or to do much fundraising for this trip. I so appreciate all that my chefs and coaches have done for me, and want to make them proud by representing my school well.

Food is a necessity, right? Just because something is necessary, however, doesn't mean it has to be boring. My name is Rebecca McElreath and I want to change the world around me through the exciting influence of great food. Baking and cooking has always been a part of my life. My dad worked in the restaurant industry early in his career, working his way up to manager, before moving to a different job with better hours so he could spend more time with his family. What did not change, was his love of food. Both he and my mom are amazing cooks and taught me to love the kitchen life from a very early age. So many life lessons can be learned from the kitchen. How to make something from using only what you have, how to improvise, patience, hand-eye coordination, creativity, time management, and so much more. I would not be the person I am today without these lessons cooking has taught me. When I reached high school, I found my interests shifting slightly. I realized that as much as I liked cooking, I loved baking even more. The expressions of my friends and family as they ate, or even just saw something, that I had baked, made all my efforts worth it. When I graduated from high school, culinary school seemed to be the next logical step in my life. I applied to my local community college, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, and enrolled in their Baking and Pastry Arts Associate's Degree program. The dynamic of their kitchen environment was so unlike anything else I had ever experienced, and I knew I had a lot to learn. From day one, though, it was also clear that I had chosen the right career path. Fast forward to Fall 2023, and I found myself in another new culinary endeavor, competition cooking. I tried out with about a dozen other students, and made the five-person team. We practiced and researched and practiced some more until our first American Culinary Federation competition in April 2024. We competed in the Southeast Regional Student Culinary Team competition and won that to be eligible to advance to the National competition in July. We went back to the drawing board and created a brand new themed four-course dinner, practicing the whole thing two to three times a week. The rest of our time was spent organizing our equipment and doing Mise en Place. Our efforts were rewarded by winning a gold medal and the title of Student Culinary Team of the Year when we won at Nationals. All of these experiences have helped me to grow in my culinary expertise and have only served to make me fall even further in love with the career. I wish to open my own bakery sometime in the near future. For now, I am doing side jobs while juggling a full class schedule. I am also going to continue my competition journey by going out and competing in the individual Student Pastry Chef competition this year. The format is the same, a regional qualifier and if I win, another national stage. Any scholarship money I win is going to fund that endeavor. I can't wait to see what else the culinary world has to offer!

My dream job is to open my own bakery! I have always been good at baking and loved putting smiles on my friends' faces as they tried one of my culinary creations. I love decorating cakes and making all kinds of baked goods. My most notable recognition in the culinary field came last year at an accredited American Culinary Federation competition. I was a member of a five-person student culinary team through my school, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, and we competed in the Regional and National student team competitions. We won both competitions and were named the National Championship Team of the Year. I have also been on the President's List at my school for six semesters so far. I graduated with highest honors from the Baking and Pastry Arts Associate Degree last spring. This year, I am continuing my education by pursuing an associate's degree in Office Administration and a certificate in Culinary Arts. I would use the money from this scholarship for two things. The first would be to help get me to my next culinary competition. I am embarking on a solo journey this year and trying out for Student Pastry Chef of the Year. Again, there would be a regional qualifier competition in early spring, and if I win, I would go on to the National stage for a second time. The second thing I would use this scholarship money for is to help buy equipment and ingredients for my own bakery. I know that in today's world, $5,000 is not a lot, but to me, it would be a huge deal as it would help further my dreams of becoming a better Pastry Chef. My submission for my craziest mash-up to date is a banana pudding cream puff. I made a banana pudding pastry cream and piped it into the Pate a choux (cream puff) shell and garnished it with Chantilly cream and a bruleed banana. It was the first dessert to disappear that day!