Putnam — You only have to listen to Rhema Phillips’ effusive description of her senior project at Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School to know just how much Phillips, chef, track star and young woman of inspiration, has come to consider herself home at Grasso Tech.

On May 18, Phillips will present her Senior Culinary Arts Project by preparing a meal for her instructors at Grasso, in addition to her family. Under the watchful eye of her mentors, Phillips will be responsible for nine portions each of her three courses, which will represent her dad, Harold’s, family culture from Barbados.

She will create a meal of Bajan fish cakes as an appetizer and a main dish of tilapia with Bajan sauce, pigeon peas and rice. She’ll make rum cake for dessert.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for so long,” said Phillips, who transferred to Grasso following her freshman year at Ledyard High School to take part in the culinary program. “I have always tried to cook with my mom. If we have a foods class that’s an hour long, I’m always wishing we had more time. For me, I just wanted to learn.

“I want to major in journalism in college, communications, but cooking is still a passion.”

Mainly, if you come across Phillips’ name, it will be as a member of the Grasso Tech girls’ track and field team. Phillips (her first name is pronounced Ray-ma and is from the Greek bible for “the spoken word of God”) first qualified for the State Open in the 100-meter hurdles during the outdoor track season her sophomore year and has been a member of The Day’s All-Area teams in indoor and outdoor track ever since.

This winter, Phillips was the Connecticut Technical Conference indoor champion in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 7.25 inches. She went on to reach the finals in the 55 hurdles at the Class S state championship, finishing seventh in 9.33 seconds, and was ninth in the long jump at 15-11.5.

A former USA Track & Field All-American in her age group while competing for the Capital City Track Club in Hartford, Phillips has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete beginning next year at Division II Southern Connecticut State University.

“She puts a lot of pressure on herself. She expects a lot of herself. For her, I think it’s just being the best she can be every day,” Grasso coach Heidi DeCosta said. “She sets goals for herself. She works pretty hard. She’s just a great student of track.

“She has a lot of pride in herself. I feel like that’s an old-fashioned trait.”

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On a recent Thursday afternoon, the Grasso Tech bus was pulling out of the St. Marie Greenhalgh Sports Complex in Putnam at 5:18 p.m., following an abbreviated meet scheduled versus Putnam and Tourtellotte, but run only against Putnam.

Grasso brought only 12 competitors, boys and girls combined, due to a conflict with the Connecticut Technical High School System Choral Festival that day at Norwich Tech. Phillips was the lone competitor in the 100 hurdles, the long jump and triple jump, with one teammate joining her in the 300 hurdles.

Having just finished the 300 hurdles, a still breathless Phillips asked a member of the Putnam boys’ team to watch her steps on the approach to her triple jump. She took one warm-up jump. She faulted on her first official try, then recorded her best jump of 33 feet, 11.5 inches on her second attempt. Prior to her third jump, Phillips took a moment, yelling, “Let’s go, Grasso,” to a group of teammates competing in a nearby track event. She finished up with a leap of 31-9.

Phillips won the 100 hurdles with a personal best time of 15.82 seconds, even though that event was also uncontested.

“She’s really involved with the kids; they look up to her,” DeCosta said of Phillips, who comports herself admirably, both in competing and, in a very coach-like fashion, helping to direct her teammates. “She doesn’t think anybody’s better than her, but she doesn’t think she’s better than anybody else. She’s just always the same. Big meets, small meets, she is a positive force to be around the track.”

“My goal is to do my personal best every single time,” Phillips said. “I love these smaller meets. I’m with my friends. Whether I run by myself or against other people … I’m racing against the clock.”

Phillips since won the same four events at yet another dual meet at Prince Tech, setting personal bests in the long jump (17-7) and the 300 hurdles (49.4).

This week she’s traveling to Houston for her cousin’s graduation, but Phillips will still be training for the postseason. The CTC championship is scheduled for May 22 at Prince Tech, with the Class S championship May 31, the State Open on June 4 and the state heptathlon competition on June 12-13. Phillips has all the dates memorized.

“The coaches here are absolutely great. They helped me get my endurance down,” said Phillips, a former Level 8 gymnast forced to end her career in that sport due to a severe back injury. “(Capital City) is an amazing team with amazing coaches. I take stuff away from everywhere I go. Each coach has something different to teach me.”

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Phillips’ ultimate goal is become a motivational speaker. She’s had practice, addressing a group of New London sixth-graders during Black History Month, giving them pointers on how to succeed the right way.

“On the front of (a medal), they wrote a dream or a goal they wanted to achieve and on the back they wrote three steps of how they wanted to get there,” Phillips said. “It was almost (an) unbelievable (experience). All of the other speakers were much older than I was, business owners, people who speak to youth around the community. My parents (Drs. Harold and Kimberly Phillips) spoke as well.

“For the athlete portion of it, I spoke about how I wanted to be a great athlete, the steps I needed to do and what I need to sacrifice. It was hard, but it’s definitely paid off. This is just the start. I’m excited to start college track. I’m going to learn and develop my skills.”

Phillips has never been to Barbados, but she knows the cuisine. She’s made fish cakes before and stewed fish. She's also big on cooking pasta, rice pilaf and chicken. She’s never regretted her decision to attend Grasso Tech and take a more “hands-on” approach to her education.

“They gave me the opportunity to learn skills and technique,” said Phillips, who works at The Yolk Café in New London on Saturdays. “I have friends (at Grasso), I think I’ll have for a lifetime. I’ve learned skills that have helped me get jobs.

“I really love cooking.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com