Last week, four WVU Tech second-year Hospitality (Culinary) students competed with world-class chefs at the Nemacolin resort in the 2nd Annual WVU Culinary Competition.
Representatives from Nemacolin and WVU Tech, including Chef Devin Noor-Mackowiak and T. Ramon Stuart, Ph.D., attended the competition and formal check presentation on April 3, 2025.
Students selected a region and specialty from which their dishes were inspired: Italian, Southern, or Mexican, and were paired with a chef from Nemacolin who helped guide, prepare, and refine the students’ menus. Each team had a limited amount of time to prepare an appetizer, entrée, and dessert, which were judged not only by a panel of culinarians but also by guests at the resort.
Jacob Watson, a native of Beckley, West Virginia, won the overall competition with his Cajun-inspired menu, which included a deconstructed jambalaya appetizer, seafood boil entrée and bananas foster mousse dessert. Madelynn Howard, from Saint Albans, West Virginia, won the People’s Choice award for her southern-inspired pimento cheese tartlet appetizers.
Jacob Watson preparing his seafood boil.
“I went in with a good concept, but very underdeveloped execution,” Watson said of his menu. “I got paired with a chef who had 45 years in the business and was a private chef for Lady Gaga and Diana Ross. So, I got this great guiding hand to help me take my ideas and then elevate them and come up with something that I never would have done,” he says. “It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don’t think I’ll ever get to do something like that again right? There are competitions everywhere, but it’s nothing like getting paired with such a veteran in the business so young in this close environment,” Watson says.
As the winner of the competition, Watson receives full tuition to the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Hardy Family Hospitality and Tourism Management degree program through the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics, to complete his bachelor’s degree online after he graduates in May with his Hospitality (Culinary) degree. He also wins a trip to New York City to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant. Watson currently works at Tamarack, and he’s excited to have his next two years of education paid for through the competition so he can continue to work and save money. He plans to travel the world to learn new culinary techniques and eventually return to Beckley.
“I really want to open a bakery in Beckley,” he says. “There’s a large gap in the market. There’s been a couple that pop up, but I think Beckley needs it. I’ve always wanted to have a bakery and do smaller to-go food for gluten-free and other dietary options.”
Howard has already landed a job post-graduation at Valley Cakes and Café in Poca, West Virginia and is excited about returning home to use her skills. She said the culinary program and the competition were both once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
“It was very professional. I loved my chef, Harmony, she was awesome. It was a great experience. I spent three hours making tartlet shells the day before the competition, then we got to the competition space, and I had to re-scoop them all because they had melted. But I would not have gotten done without my chef,” she said.
The competition comes just a week after Nemacolin donated $279,000 to the Hospitality (Culinary) program hosted on the WVU Tech campus during their annual Day of Giving. This gift will fund a second professor in the program for three years.
“It’s really going to impact the program,” Howard said of the recent donation. “ Chef Devin works so hard, harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. She deserves to be able to hire someone and have them here for the extra support.” “I think it’s important to have a wide variety of teachers. Chef Devin is great at pastry, but having a second instructor could be an amazing opportunity for everybody to broaden things and bring in new techniques,” Watson said.
Alex Huddleston and Richard Aden Vance, natives of Beckley, West Virginia, also competed in the competition and echoed their classmates’ sentiments that the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As part of the competition, the four students stayed on the Nemacolin property, where they received the complete resort treatment, including a personal butler who brought cookies and tea to their rooms each night. Students also received hand-written notes in their rooms and were gifted cookbooks to use in their culinary careers.
“It definitely humbled me. I discovered that I have a lot more to learn,” Huddleston said. “But the stay – they went above and beyond.”
Huddleston created an Italian-inspired menu, while Vance made Mexican-style dishes. Vance was paired with a chef who was originally from Mexico, and she shared authentic techniques with him in preparing for the competition.
“She [Vance’s chef] was more than happy to teach, and I was more than happy to learn,” Vance said. Vance shared a photo of himself wearing a Mexican poncho he was gifted by his chef featuring the Aztec calendar. They used it as a tablecloth for their culinary display. “It was a wonderful experience overall,” he said.
Alex Huddleston and his chef preparing a ravioli dish.
Both Vance and Huddleston are completing internships at the Summit Bechtel Reserve this summer after they graduate in May.
Vance hopes to open a food truck, while Huddleston said he wants to help Vance open his food truck and focus on his passion, baking and pastry.