{"id":369872,"date":"2026-07-11T23:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369872\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T23:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:32:09","slug":"el-paso-community-college-pairs-food-brews-and-scholarship-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369872\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso Community College pairs food, brews and scholarship fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 The El Paso Community College (EPCC) Culinary Arts Department and Restaurant Management Programs hosted a special event to raise money for scholarships for students.<\/p>\n

And everyone there enjoyed some tasty brews and food while doing it.<\/p>\n

The America 250: Red, White and Brew event, held Thursday, July 9 at the EPCC Administrative Services Center, featured beers from eight local breweries along with student-brewed beer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beer was paired with chef-curated dishes, created by teams in a fun competition, EPCC said.<\/p>\n

Proceeds all benefited Culinary Arts student scholarships through the EPCC Foundation. Current Culinary Arts student Melanie Carranza received a $1,000 student scholarship at the event.<\/p>\n

The event also featured former Culinary Arts student Joanna Perry Castro performing the National Anthem. Perry Castro drove in from Arizona specifically for the event.<\/p>\n

“The brewers were all really nice, and I really enjoyed going to the breweries and learning the process,” Aurellia’s student team leader Lizette Torres said. “I had so much fun here and had a great time with the Aurellia’s group and students.”<\/p>\n

“I think the event was amazing. It takes an army and the army is at work, so I’m very proud of the students, chefs and collaboration with the brewers,” Culinary Art Program Director Chef Jesus Lugo said. “I hope we did the brewers proud and I think we did.”<\/p>\n

Brewmasters from local breweries committed time over the last two months to mentor aspiring students, sharing hands-on skills and providing real-world brewing experience. The breweries included: Aurellia’s, Broken Rules Brewery, DeadBeach Brewery, Mountain Star Brewery, Number Brewery, Old Sheepdog Brewery, Sun Brewing Company and Three Missions Brewery.<\/p>\n

Guests enjoyed locally crafted brews and culinary treats prepared by EPCC Culinary Arts students and crafted brews prepared by EPCC students. This was a unique opportunity to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary while investing in future hospitality professionals and strengthening El Paso’s brewing community, EPCC said.<\/p>\n

“This was an awesome experience, because sometimes brewing is a lonely process,” Charlie Dizcaino, Mountain Star brewer, said. “It’s great to have fresh faces and see them enjoying the process, and this is really fun to be in their realm now at EPCC.”<\/p>\n

Guests and local judges were able to vote for Best Student and Collaborative Partner Brew; Best Signature Dish; Best Food\/Brew Pairing; and Best Decorated Serving Station in the friendly competition. Winners were:<\/p>\n

Best Collaborative Brew: Three Missions Brewery and Jef Jose Ortega Castillo<\/p>\n

Best Signature Dish: Aurellia’s and Chef Jesus Lugo<\/p>\n

Best Food & Beer Pairing: Aurellia’s and Chef Jesus Lugo<\/p>\n

Best Decorated Serving Station: DeadBeach and Chef Steven and Danirabe Lowry<\/p>\n

The money raised helped fund student scholarships, giving aspiring chefs the resources and opportunities they need to succeed in the restaurant and brewing industry.<\/p>\n

For more information on the EPCC Culinary Arts department, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 The El Paso Community College (EPCC) Culinary Arts Department and Restaurant Management Programs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[43673,138,9845,140,139,31335,131059,131063,131062,91934,131064,131060,131061],"class_list":["post-369872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-culinary-arts","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-community-college","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-epcc","tag-epcc-administrative-services-center","tag-epcc-students","tag-jesus-lugo","tag-local-breweries","tag-restaurant-management-programs","tag-student-scholarship","tag-student-scholarships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}