It’s easy to wind up in Chef Mary Arthur’s classroom if you let your nose guide you.

On Thursday, culinary students were busy cooking up caldo verde, a Portuguese soup made with potatoes, greens and sausage, while also baking scones and preparing other dishes.

“This is where the smell is coming from,” said one middle school student who popped in while on a group tour of Oak Harbor High School.

Arthur’s classroom is not only a creative escape from traditional coursework, it’s a place where students have been inspired to achieve excellence.

Last weekend, five advanced culinary students from Oak Harbor took their skills to Pierce County and came away with first place at Washington State’s Sysco ProStart competition at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood.

The accomplishment puts Oak Harbor back on familiar footing as state champions in culinary arts for the eighth time in 12 years.

It also earned the Wildcats a trip to the National ProStart Invitational, April 28-30, in Charleston, S.C.

The event is considered the premier competition for high school students who are studying culinary arts and restaurant management.

Oak Harbor took third at the state competition last year, missing out on a trip to the national invitational.

“It’s very exciting,” said Arthur, in her sixth year as Oak Harbor High School’s culinary arts advisor. “It’s always fun to take a group of students to nationals to compete with every state having their top teams.”

Scott Fraser, chef and owner of Frasers Gourmet Hideway, has mentored Oak Harbor teams since the Wildcats started competing in ProStart events 16 years ago and again will be accompanying the team to the national invitational.

This year, he and Arthur have molded champions out of a team made up of seniors Maddie Gaber and Sydney Dickinson and juniors Donovan McCulley, Abigail Noack and Garrett Karney.

Gaber, the team captain, is the only returner from last year’s team. Karney and Dickinson were late replacements who only had about three weeks to prepare for the state competition.

At Clover Park Technical College, the team prepared an appetizer of sauteed diver scallops topped with smoked curry roasted cauliflower, basil aioli and tamarfind caramel; a main entree of masala braised lamb shoulder Indian spiced chops with potato and pea samosa; and a dessert of dark chocolate panna cotta with rum cremeux.

The students get one hour to prepare the three courses with six judges observing every move. The team may use only two butane burners to cook as no electricity is allowed.

Participants get judged on an assortment of criteria, including presentation, sanitation and knife skills — all while beating the clock, which Oak Harbor barely did.

“They finished on time — in the very last second,” said Fraser, honored as the state’s mentor of the year in Lakewood.

“I was obviously scared,” McCulley said. “I was also excited just to be there. I would’ve been content with just the experience.”

Arthur’s culinary arts program has prompted many students from Oak Harbor to pursue further education and careers in culinary arts.

Students start with commercial baking or “Foods for Today” introductory course offerings at the high school before moving on to a culinary arts class that involves participation with Wildcat Catering, the school’s student-run, licensed catering business.

“I love it,” said Karney, who was carrying a box of brownies that students baked to take to a middle school orientation. “My mom taught me how to cook when I was young. I have a passion for it. I fell in love with it.

“My brother and sister had taken this class before. They always had stories about Chef. She’s a great chef and teacher. She’s a great influence. She teaches us how to do knife skills, pan frying, sauteing — all of the different components to cooking.”

Students are tested to see if they can land on the school’s ProStart culinary arts team, which reserves only five spots, or a management team.

Gaber was so taken by the program that she shifted her career focus and now plans to attend the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York starting in October.

“Before I came into this class I was thinking about being a dental hygienist,” Gaber said. “I realize that everything I do revolves around culinary.”

Gaber, who works at an Oak Harbor restaurant, also recently won a Skills USA competition for table service and has advanced to the state competition, which falls on the same weekend as the National ProStart Invitational in South Carolina.

Arthur said they are trying to make arrangements so that she can compete in both.

In the meantime, the Oak Harbor culinary team will be working to raise money for their trip.

A fundraiser dinner will take place at Frasers Gourmet Hideaway on April 23.

Donovan McCulley, foreground, and other Oak Harbor High School students work on preparing dishes during Chef Mary Arthur’s culinary arts class Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. The school’s culinary arts team won a state championship for the eighth time in 12 years on Saturday and will now advance to the National ProStart Invitational in Charleston, S.C. Photo by Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times

Donovan McCulley of Oak Harbor High School measures out coriander while preparing potato and pea samosa during culinary arts class Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. The school’s culinary arts team won a state championship for the eighth time in 12 years on Saturday and will now advance to the National ProStart Invitational in Charleston, S.C. Photo by Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times