Dennis Parra Resendiz will be graduating from Flagstaff High School (FHS) on Friday with plans to continue developing his culinary skills at Northern Arizona University.
Parra Resendiz said his grandmother introduced him to cooking at a young age. He resumed the practice as a middle schooler during the COVID-19 pandemic -- which is when he said he "really fell in love with it."
He has taken culinary classes through FHS's Career and Technical Education program all four years of high school, including both Introduction to Baking and Pastry and Culinary Competition Skills during his senior year. The school offers six culinary classes, and Parra Resendiz has taken five.
As part of the latter class, Parra Resendiz participated in culinary competitions through C-CAP, or the Careers through Culinary Arts Program. This involved skills practice during class as well as after school, where the students would complete practice versions of the entire competition and work to refine specific skills. He said participating in the program and preparing for competitions taught him time management and the importance of teamwork.
Parra Resendiz earned a $5,000 scholarship as part of this year's competition, making it to the finals with 29 other seniors across Arizona. Last year, he was part of the FHS culinary team that traveled to Baltimore for the ProStart National Invitational.
The dish he said he鈥檚 most proud of from this year's event is a standing cucumber salad, which he made with thin slices of cucumber arranged vertically and filled with diced bell pepper, jicama, tomato and onion.
Starting this fall, Parra Resendiz plans to study hotel and restaurant management at NAU with the hope of one day working in the culinary industry.
He said he chose NAU because it had one of the top HRM programs in the state and that he was looking forward to still being able to spend time with his family.
The program will teach him the behind-the-scenes work of running a restaurant or a hotel, including finances.
Parra Resendiz said he hopes to one day open his own restaurant, as "it's always been a dream of mine."
He described his time in high school as 鈥渁mazing,鈥� saying he鈥檇 become close with the other students in his class throughout the four years.
鈥淪omething I learned was how it important it is to connect with your teachers and how the relationships can really help you as a student and can really help you understand the class and the subjects," he said.
Parra Resendiz said Courtney Prajapati, who has been his culinary teacher for three years, was an example of this, as she brought her industry experience to teaching.
鈥淭hat's something I really value from her," he said. "You can see the passion she has and how much knowledge of the industry and all it entails.鈥�
While culinary arts has been a focus for Parra Resendiz, he's also found time for a few other activities during high school. He's taken three years of Spanish, including Spanish for Spanish Speakers 1 and a dual-enrollment math class through which he earned credit from Coconino Community College.
Parra Resendiz is also the president of his school's Hispanic Culture Club, which puts on a variety of events such as an annual Day of the Dead festival. In his role as president over the past two years, he has helped to organize these events and various club fundraisers.聽
He said his involvement in the club has taught him "how people are connected through their culture and heritage and how family can define who we are."