PHOTO: The chili cook-off team "A Team Has No Name" made up of members of The Signal and Orientation & New Student Programs won first place in judged chili, the spirit award and the popular vote. The team is accepting their award in front of the stage. Photo by The Signal reporter Kathryn Wickenhofer. — The chili cook-off team "A Team Has No Name" made up of members of The Signal and Orientation & New Student Programs won first place in judged chili, the spirit award and the popular vote. "A Team Has No Name" is a reference from the popular HBO show "Game of Thrones." From left to right: Alyssa Shotwell, Lindsay Humphrey, Tyler Hall, Stephanie Pena, Miles Shellshear, Flor Gonzalez, Angie Montelongo, and Brantley Fletcher. Photo by The Signal reporter Kathryn Wickenhofer.

Teams handle the heat at the annual UHCL Chili Cook-off

By Kathryn Wickenhofer Last updated Apr 18, 2019 530 0

The chili cook-off team "A Team Has No Name" made up of members of The Signal and Orientation & New Student Programs won first place in judged chili, the spirit award and the popular vote. "A Team Has No Name" is a reference from the popular HBO show "Game of Thrones." The team is accepting their award in front of the stage. From left to right: Alyssa Shotwell, Lindsay Humphrey, Tyler Hall, Stephanie Pena, Miles Shellshear, Flor Gonzalez, Angie Montelongo, and Brentley Fletcher. Photo by The Signal reporter Kathryn Wickenhofer. — The chili cook-off team “A Team Has No Name” made up of members of The Signal and Orientation & New Student Programs won first place in judged chili, the spirit award and the popular vote. “A Team Has No Name” is a reference from the popular HBO show “Game of Thrones.” From left to right: Alyssa Shotwell, Lindsay Humphrey, Tyler Hall, Stephanie Pena, Miles Shellshear, Flor Gonzalez, Angie Montelongo, and Brentley Fletcher. Photo by The Signal reporter Kathryn Wickenhofer.

The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) hosted its 30th Annual Chili Cook-off Saturday, April 6, 2019, from 12 – 4 p.m. outside the campus’ Recreation Center. Hosted by the Office of Student Life, this annual tradition put a little spice in the semester with its cooking teams, activities, games, and mascot Hunter the Hawk’s birthday celebration.

Guests tasted chili for only $4 with a student UHCL I.D. and $5 without a student I.D. Furthermore, visitors who bought a tasting kit for $5 were also able to buy a T-shirt for $5.

There were nine cook-off teams this year, and each team picked an original theme that the team worked together to create. The teams included: Career Services; Office of Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; the UHCL Police Department; Hawk Leadership Institute; National Society of Leadership; Campus Recreation and Wellness; Business Oriented Student Society Legal Student Association; The Signal and Orientation and New Student Programs; and Student Success Initiative.

There were also lots of activities for kids at the cook-off, such as a bounce house, inflatable obstacle courses and a rock wall. This annual occasion also celebrated Hunter the Hawk’s 6th birthday with a birthday cake, which was shared with participants and attendees during the cook-off. Midway through the cook-off, Hunter rode around on a golf cart, then stepped on stage while the crowd sang “Happy Birthday.”

Third place judged chili winners were the Office of Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s team themed “Dino-versity.” That had not competed for this competition in several years.

“We specifically chose for our chili to be vegetarian, so it was inclusive,” said Aja Rodriguez, coordinator of diversity programs. “We got to do some team-building with our staff as well as participating in something fun. So, it really feels great that our hard work paid off.”

Second place judged chili winners were the Hawk Leadership Institute. Bikini Bottom Dwellers. Bikini dwellers also won the Student Government Association (SGA) trophy award.

“Our theme was a group decision, someone said SpongeBob,” said Samantha Lock, captain of the Hawk Leadership Institute team. “So that’s what we chose. We made T-shirts, jellyfish balloons, seaweed with streamers, and added different color balloons to help with the theme. To cook the chili, it took a week. It took a long time because we were adding things and taking things out. We were trying to perfect our chili from what came from nothing. We’re first-time winners for the SGA trophy award.”

The first-place judged chili award went to “A Team Has No Name,” which consisted of UHCL offices The Signal newspaper and Office of Orientation and New Student Programs. In addition to winning first place in judged chili, “A Team Has No Name,” also won the spirit award and the popular vote trophy.

“Ultimately, we decided on fire and ice, Game of Thrones,” said Angie Montelongo, director Orientation & New Student Programs. “We have T-shirts, a lot of Game of Thrones decorations. We went with a spicy chili and a cool dessert to represent the fire and ice. We have dragon eggs that we decorated, and the two teams came together to get everything ready.”

Chef’s choice award went to Student Success Initiative whose booth was decorated with superheroes’ theme.

“I guess our theme is about how we’re the superheroes for the students! We’ are running student success, academic advisement and other offices that support students,” said Kelly Molinario customer service representative.

Bernadine Streeter, senior academic advisor for the college of education, said that the Jell-O cups were flavored after the popular Marvel heroes.

“I think the creativity of the Jell-O cups is what attracted a lot of people,” Streeter said. “The superheroes we went with were Captain America’s patriotic punch, which was blueberry flavored Jell-O, Thor’s lightning lemonade, Spiderman’s web-slinging cider, which was strawberry flavored Jell-O, and Hulks gamma-gulper, which was lime flavored Jell-O.”

For more information on the Chili Cook-off head to www.uhcl.edu/campus-life/events/chili-cook-off.

VIDEO: Chili comes to UHCL’s 30th annual tradition