Photo Provided Buckeye Local High School students in Luke Fabry’s Foods 2 class are raising money to return to Disney World Epcot in Orlando, Fla., this April for the annual Cook Around the World Competition. Sixteen students are planning to attend after last year’s team scored an impressive fourth-place nod with one of its dishes. Cookies, personalized cups and other items are being sold to raise funds and a soup benefit is being eyed for January. Pictured with some of the items are, from left, Allie Emfield, Brennin Takach and Sydney Snyder.

CONNORVILLE — Students in a Buckeye Local High School culinary class are raising funds to return to Florida this spring after finding some success at a previous cooking competition.

Sixteen students in Luke Fabry’s Foods 2 class have been peddling their homemade wares by selling cookies, personalized cups and more to return to Disney World Epcot in Orlando, Florida, for the annual Cook Around the World Competition on April 25-28.

About eight students attended last year, which was the first time the school was represented at the event, and Fabry said the group ranked an impressive fourth place in a side dish contest.

Cook Around the World gives high schoolers an opportunity to compete in a hands-on culinary experience, attend a leadership seminar and hear from top chefs and representatives from top colleges and universities about careers in the culinary and hospitality fields, plus participants can have some fun enjoying the parks and amenities. As part of the competition, students select a random envelope featuring a culture on which to base their dish as well as a protein and ingredients to create a meal for judging. Fabry said the previous team made an Asian pork stir fry dish with their selection and performed well for their first time.

“They made a Vietnamese strawberry salad that earned fourth place out of 20 teams from around the world,” Fabry said. “There were culinary classes and career-tech schools there and we were one of only three public schools.”

He hopes his students get a chance to experience it all again and the class has been raising funds since the start of the school year.

So far, they have garnered about $12,000 for their efforts by selling personalized cups for teachers with artwork by senior Sydney Snyder, plus they sold pulled pork meals, homemade pumpkin rolls and Panther Bites cookies in flavors of chocolate chip, sugar cookie, Midnight Sky (chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips), snickerdoodle and more. Another moneymaker is a soup benefit eyed for mid-January.

“We opened up a cafe to sell coffee, hot cocoa, Panther Bite cookies and pastries and students can order online and we’ll deliver them to their classes,” he said. “We also want to hold another soup benefit and will have five different soups to sell for $5 plus desserts.”

The personalized cups are being offered for $20 while pumpkin rolls cost $10 each. Boxes of cookies are also available for $20 and are being peddled through the Buckeye Local Cafe Culinary Parents Club Facebook page. Additionally, he said the career-tech classes are working together to sell Buckeye Local earrings and pins to make some extra money.

Fabry added that he hopes to have students compete in other events and it provides something fun that they can look forward to attending. Senior Brennin Takach, who took part in last year’s competition, said it was a great experience.

“It was fantastic. I loved the experience we had there,” Takach said. “It was my first time at Disney World and I got to see everyone else’s food and meet people from different countries.”

Meanwhile, anyone interested in donating may also send a check payable to the Buckeye Local School District, in care of Luke Fabry, to Buckeye Local High School, 10692 State Route 150, Rayland, Ohio, 43943.