Lights, camera, chef's coat, action!
Gold medalist Culinary alumna to be in documentary
Culinary Arts Tech Prep Class of '08 alumna Maggie O'Mara of Guilderland is one of a team of award-winning SUNY Delhi students being followed and filmed over the course of a year for a documentary being produced by Kent Garrett Productions of Roxbury, N.Y.

O'Mara, who is working toward an associate's degree in Culinary Arts in May, studied at Career & Tech under Chef Paul Rother (Culinary Arts & Hospitality Technology I) (pictured with her at right) and Chef Paul Dolan (Culinary Arts Tech Prep). Through college in the high school programs at Career & Tech and her high school, O'Mara entered SUNY Delhi in fall 2008 with a semester's worth of college credits.

At SUNY Delhi, she was selected as one of only two apprentice members on a seven-student team who compete in American Culinary Federation (ACF) events locally, regionally, statewide and nationally.  The team has earned a solid reputation, having won during the past five years alone, four consecutive state championships, two regional championships and more than 225 individual and team medals, including first-runner-up gold medal at the ACF National Championships.

ACF competitors are judged against strict standards set by the federation and include professional chefs as well as individual students and teams. ACF competitions are intense, exciting and highly regarded by those within the industry and beyond.

Among O'Mara's recent accomplishments was winning an ACF individual gold medal in cold food preparation at the Hotel Motel Show in New York City. "Being on the Culinary team is a lot of hard work," she notes. "We work late into the night in the kitchen - sometimes until 2 a.m.- and then are back there again at 6 a.m." And yet O'Mara wouldn't change a thing. "It's fun! You learn a lot more than you would just going to class, build discipline and make friends."

O'Mara is also active in the Delhi Escoffier Club, a student organization  involved in many hours of community service events and fund-raisers for competitions and other activities. "Our club enjoys lots of support back from the community, too," O'Mara said.

Kent Garrett and Jean Ellsworth of Kent Garrett Productions of Roxbury, N.Y. (pictured with O'Mara at left), are filming SUNY Delhi's Culinary team for a year, documenting their progress from tryouts to final competitions, and day-to-day lives as students, family members and aspiring culinary and hospitality professionals. The documentary, titled "Mise En Place," is being underwritten by grants from the O'Connor Foundation of Hobart, N.Y., and the New York State Council on the Arts.

"The project shows how the SUNY Delhi Culinary program and team support our region and local economy, both as frequent, positive contributors to the community and through their use of local produce and meat," explained Garrett. "We hope to follow the team all the way through the nationals with a release date of next fall or winter." Garrett and Ellsworth said the documentary will be 90 minutes long and released theatrically, as well as being distributed through schools and the local community.

O'Mara's love for culinary arts happily consumes her days, including time off from school. When she is home in Guilderland on break from college, O'Mara works at Hannaford Supermarkets and at Albany Country Club, a position she landed through Career & Tech. Her family is behind her college and career ambitions: O'Mara's father has catered part-time, her uncle is a manager at Hannaford, and her sister works for Hershey.

As for advice for students considering studying Culinary Arts at Career & Tech or college, O'Mara says go for it! "Even if you don't end up in a culinary career, the discipline and experience will pay off. And, you'll have a great skill to fall back upon and use to earn money part-time."

Career & Tech Teaching Assistant Lena Herbert and O'Mara visit in the kitchen

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