GCISD Career and Technical Education (CTE) students and teammates Albin Jacobson and Hunter Somerman of Colleyville Heritage High School placed second in Food Innovations at the state competition of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Conference, held April 9-11. They now advance to compete at the national competition, July 6-10, in Washington, D.C.
For their food innovation, the two were tasked with creating a new product using a hyperlocal ingredient that teens would like. The goal was to demonstrate knowledge of basic concepts of food product development by creating an original prototype formula and developing a marketing strategy.
The duo created “Quench’d,” a hydration gummy made with strawberries, coconut water and a zero-calorie sugar substitute. In addition to developing the product in their CTE class, they also were tasked with developing a presentation shared before a panel of judges at state. The presentation included nutrition facts, food costs and packaging.
This is not their first time creating a real-world product. In 2025, they were in the CTE class that competed to place a pizza creation on the restaurant menu of Wise Guys Pizzeria in Grapevine, a GCISD community partner that supports Stars of GCISD. The pizza creations were customer favorites and also received widespread media attention.
“Hunter and Albin did such a great job and all of their hard work has paid off,” said FCCLA advisor and CTE teacher Kaylie Kotecki who teaches the practicum class at Grapevine High School. “I can’t wait to see them at nationals!”