Rebekah Pool ’17 ’23 always had confidence in her scone recipe. It has never steered her wrong, always baking into tender, buttery perfection. But even she was surprised when the trusted recipe propelled her to victory in a high-stakes pastry competition.
Pool’s scones were the centerpiece of a dessert she created for the 2025 ACF Food Sport Competition, hosted by the American Culinary Federation in Las Vegas, Nevada. Inspired by strawberry shortcake, she made a version of her scones spiced with hot honey, pairing them with chile oil-poached pineapple, macerated berries, bergamot-infused whipped cream and a dollop of caviar — all developed around three secret ingredients.
When she was announced as the winner of the pastry/dessert category, she was stunned.
“I wasn’t even listening for my name,” she says, “and when I heard it, I thought, oh no, I have to walk across the stage now.”
With the win, Pool secured a spot to compete in the World Food Championships in fall 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. While it’s too soon to say what she’ll make, she has several ideas and a few tricks up her sleeve for a competition of this scale. Until then, her focus remains on the Culinary Arts program at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, where she has been a faculty member since 2019.
A graduate of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, Pool has been an educator for more than 10 years, turning her passions for food and teaching into a fulfilling career. She began teaching at El Paso Community College while working on her bachelor’s degree in NMSU’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management. She later became a graduate teaching assistant while completing a master’s degree in family and consumer sciences.
After leaving NMSU, she taught English to schoolchildren in Beijing before eventually landing at Tyler Junior College. There, she helped build the Culinary Arts program into a thriving, student-focused department. She teaches courses in basic and advanced baking and pastry, hospitality and restaurant management, and other related areas. In 2024, the Texas Chefs Association named Pool the Texas Chef Educator of the Year.
“I enjoy teaching because it provides something new every day,” she says. “Even though it might be the same class, the same recipes, semester to semester, you’re always going to learn something new.”
Top: Rebekah Pool, center, won the pastry/dessert category in the 2025 ACF Food Sport Competition. Pool is a two-time NMSU graduate who now teaches culinary arts at Tyler Junior College. Bottom: Judges at the 2025 ACF Food Sport Competition taste Pool’s dessert, a riff off strawberry shortcake that included chile oil-poached pineapple, macerated berries, bergamot-infused whipped cream and a dollop of caviar.
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