Fleckenstein's Baker to Judge National Competition

When Bob Fleckenstein, co-owner of in Mokena, judges the national championships in baking at SkillsUSA in Kansas City next week, he knows he’ll be seeing some of the best and brightest future bakers in the United States.

“It’s exciting,” he said of his volunteer judging role, which he’ll take on for the third year at SkillsUSA, a national competition for high school and post-secondary students involved in the trades.

On June 22 and 23, more than 5,700 students will compete in 61 skilled trade and technical fields such as cosmetology, cabinetmaking, masonry, graphic communications, culinary arts and sheet metal work. Each contestant at the national level was a gold medal winner at the state level. Scholarships for future studies will be awarded to the national winners.

Fleckenstein, himself a certified master baker, will work with about a dozen other certified master baker judges to evaluate the contestants. Judges are divided into teams of two and must each review two of the six baked goods submitted by every contestant. In the baking division, there are 39 high school and 20 post-secondary students.

“The contestants must stick to the recipe exactly,” Fleckenstein said. “If they put too much salt in, we’ll taste it. And we have to judge the same item for everybody.”

High school students will be preparing white yeast bread, pumpkin bread, a sweet dough, sugar cookies and pineapple pie. Post-secondary students will make French bread, blueberry muffins, butter tea cake, éclairs and pecan pie. Both groups also have to decorate a cake.

The students start at 8 a.m. and must be finished by 3:30 p.m. with the baked goods prepared for serving. While the students are baking, the judges walk around and evaluate their performance in progress, Fleckenstein said.

The final products are judged on external and internal appearance, as well as taste and presentation, he added.

SkillsUSA has more than 40 years of experience preparing students for skilled and technical trade fields, according to their website. More than 1,100 industry professionals like Fleckenstein donate time, money or other resources to the ongoing training of future tradespeople.

But it's the practical work experience, not the book smarts, that will hone their skills and develop excellence, Fleckenstein said. Baking is an art that is developed through dedication and practice.

“These (students) hopefully will be the next generation of retail bakers,” Fleckenstein said. “I was amazed at how well they performed, and I am looking forward to them joining our industry.”