Press contact: Angela Try

Lincoln Land Community College student Mary Wichmann, of Chatham, took home the gold medal in baking and pastry arts from the 2025 Illinois SkillsUSA Championship held April 24-26 in Peoria. The win qualifies her to compete at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference to be held in Atlanta, Ga., June 23-27, 2025.

Wichmann was one of 44 LLCC students competing at the state level. LLCC students competed in seven categories: automotive and diesel technologies, heavy equipment operator, HVAC, welding, culinary arts, and baking and pastry arts. Gabriel Sarabia, of Lincoln, won bronze in culinary arts and Garrett Sheehan, of Concord, won bronze in heavy equipment operator.

As part of the competition, Wichmann baked cream puffs, snickerdoodle cookies and an apple pie and decorated a pre-made cake, as part of the competition. To prepare, she practiced recipes for consistency and taught herself to make a lattice crust for the apple pie.

Before studying baking and pastry arts, she had graduated from LLCC with an associate in fine arts with the intention of transferring to a university to pursue a degree in secondary education. But a job at the Apple Barn, in Chatham, and chance to create desserts, redirected her passion to the baking and pastry arts.

“I never thought I would be in a baking competition,” she laughed. “But I’m so proud of what I’ve accomplished at LLCC. From winning my first competition to graduating from this program with honors, it’s nice to see all that hard work paying off.”

Wichmann now turns her attention to preparing for the national competition where she will have to create seven recipes. The competition tests students’ knowledge and skills in professional baking and pastry arts. They are judged on technical skill and execution, product quality, creativity and presentation, time management and adherence to industry standards.

The Workforce Institute at LLCC offers seven certificates and degrees in hospitality management and culinary arts. To learn more visit www.llcc.edu/hospitality-culinary.