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Culinary Arts course teaches science, marketing, safety
CLINTON — Gracie Graham has always liked to cook, so she signed up for the Culinary Arts class at her school.
“I thought it would be fun, and it is,” said the Clinton High School eleventh-grader. “We sell food to the other kids here and it really builds confidence.
Her classmate Khristian Richardson agreed.
“I took this class because I thought it would be helpful in the long run,” he said. “If I want to do something special for my family or if I want to create a dish, I’ll have some experience.”
This year, there are 39 students enrolled in the CHS Career Complex’s Culinary Arts program. Of those, 28 are in the first year of the program and 11 in second-year.
“So far this year in Culinary Arts I we have covered kitchen safety, sanitation, equipment, measuring and culinary math,” said instructor Catherine Bruce. “Each of these units includes not only professional culinary instruction but also teaches basic life skills that students can use in any field.”
Second-year students have covered dairy, salads, garnishing, meat, seafood and poultry.
“They are especially excited about the dessert and baking unit that we will dive into later in the program,” Bruce said.
To learn the retail side of the food service industry, every Friday students prepare food and beverages for the Arrow Snack Shack and sell them to other students at the Career Complex.
“We are learning marketing, costing, profit margins and sales skills,” Bruce said. “It has been an amazing year so far and we can’t wait to see the students’ creativity and hard work come to life in the kitchen as the year progresses.”