Career Academy student wins national baking competition

A recent Lincoln Public Schools graduate and former student at The Career Academy took top honors in June at a national culinary event.

Hanna Christainsen won first place and a gold medal in the Commercial Baking category at the national SkillsUSA Championships, held June 26-27 in Louisville, Kentucky. Christainsen graduated from Lincoln Southwest High School in May and completed the Culinary Pathway at The Career Academy.

The competition included more than 6,400 career and technical education students from across the country. In the Commercial Baking category, contestants were challenged to meet production and quality standards expected by industry. The contest included a written examination and practical exercises. Contestants demonstrated their knowledge and skills through scaling, mixing, preparing and baking seven products. The products included breads, rolls, cookies, pastry and pies. The students also had to demonstrate their cake decorating skills. 

Christainsen prepared cheddar pepper scones, 9.5 pounds of honey wheat bread, eclairs and cream puffs, apple galettes, chocolate chip cookies, three shapes of filled Danish pastries and decorated a four-layer cake.

For her victory, Christainsen received a culinary calculator, an Amazon tablet and a full scholarship to Sullivan University, the Culinary Institute of America or Johnson and Wales University.

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