Brockton Teacher Ranks Near Top For Chef Contest
Grace Wood of Poplar has reached the quarter-final round of the national Taste of Home magazine’s favorite chef contest.
Wood, who is a math teacher at Brockton High School, said she entered the contest as a spur of the moment thought. “Something came across my feed, so I thought I would try it,” Wood said. “It’s one of those impulse things, threw my hat into the ring.”
Her cooking experience has included at The Overland restaurant in Poplar. When that restaurant was open, her signature dish was her Go Green Pizza which is made with homemade pizza dough and basil pesto for the sauce. The pizza also features green vegetables such as bell pepper, broccoli and fresh spinach.
She says cooking has always been a love of hers. “I like cooking and knowing they like it.”
Wood is surprised and grateful how well she has been doing in the chef contest.
“I’m sure humbled by this,” Wood said of the support. “It’s not in my nature to ask people to vote for me. But I’ve been doing that.”
After dropping to second place in an opening round, she stayed alive in the contest with a strong showing in the wildcard round, which ended on July 12.
Voting for semi-finalists ends on Thursday, July 23, at 7 p.m. PDT. You can vote for Wood at favchef.com of check out Wood’s Facebook page.
“You can vote free once a day,” Wood said. “What I’m really in awe over is how much support I’ve have received.”
The semi-final round runs from July 24-30 and the final round is held from July 31 to Aug. 6.
The grand prize is $25,000. Love said if she wins, she would use the money to have a huge block party in Poplar. She would also like to donate to programs such as Wolf Point Pound Puppies.
The winner will also get to cook with famous chef Carla hall and will be featured in Taste of Home magazine.
“The biggest thing is to meet Carla Hall and cook with her,” Wood said.
Regardless of the voting outcome, make no mistake, Wood’s field of expertise will remain in education. The math teacher’s experience includes 22 years at Fort Peck Community College and working at Brockton High School since 2017.
“I love it,” she said of teaching in Brockton. “I love interacting with those kids. I love seeing them gain something.”
But she does use her cooking ability in the classroom. She honors birthday students with birthday dates throughout the school year. “That’s become a thing,” she said.
