Colton Chefs “Chop” Up the Competition at County Cooking Event

Colton participates in its first “Chopped” Competition in their new state-of-the-art culinary classroom.

Mark Rodriguez, Pepper Bough Editor • January 28, 2026

Preparation is key for cooking a successful meal. The culinary crew gets their ingredients in order.

Colton, CA—On Jan. 20, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools held its 4th annual Chopped competition at Colton High School’s brand new culinary building. Four teams went head-to-head in a two-course meal-style setup similar to that of the famous TV show “Chopped.”

Entering the culinary building, teams had one goal: make a dish to win first place and represent East Valley in the 2nd annual County-wide Chopped competition at San Bernardino Valley College on May 1.

The high school teams competing were Rialto, Twentynine Palms, Entrepreneur and Colton. While each team brought four competitors, Colton only had three: Vincent Moreno, Neveah Johnson, and David Rios.

“This is [Colton’s] first time participating in Chopped,” said Dr. Michael Richards, coordinator for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of School’s Alliance for Education. “I’m looking forward to being a part of working with partners across the region, where work-based learning opportunities can help all our teams improve.”

Teams prepared two-course meals, which included an entree and appetizer. Ingredients included lamb, Mediterranean rice and green beans. However what the students didn’t know was they had to use two secret ingredients ranging from greek yogurt to thyme and dill. The wild card ingredients required several teams to adapt and change plans on the fly.

Brandall Buckles is the advisor of CHAMPS, Colton High’s Culinary Pathway. He was excited for his students to get an opportunity to showcase their skills at this event. “I can see that they were nervous,” he said. “But it’s not about how good they do, it’s about getting them that experience.”

Dishes were evaluated by five judges comprised of superintendents and chefs from San Bernardino County. Each dish was judged based on taste, use of the secret ingredient, presentation, originality, and safety.

Rialto High landed first overall for both their entree and appetizer. They will advance to the country-wide competition at Valley College.

Colton placed fourth overall, however their appetizer, with recipe by Vincent Moreno, placed third. Their participation was a true learning experience.

“We were still a strong team,” said David Rios “We still held our own, and we heard we got great compliments from the judges.”

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About the Contributor

Mark Rodriguez, Staff Writer

Mark Rodriguez is a senior at Colton High School. Other than the fact he is taller than you would expect a 17-year old to be, he’s a pretty average high school kid. He tends to get out of line, but he somehow manages to fix that (sometimes). He’s “smart” but struggles because of a lack of effort. However, when he tries, he can do excellent work (according to some sources). He likes to make people laugh and smile, but somehow he still struggles to talk to people. This is Mark’s fourth year writing for the Pepper Bough. He plans to pursue journalism after high school.