By: Ty Lounsbury
Welcome back to the CTE series! This week’s piece is about the very impressive culinary CTE program that is offered at Wallenpaupack. It started in the fall of 2016. Although it did exist before 2016, it wasn’t a CTE at the time; it was part of a home economics class. Since then, a number of things have been added, and there’s still more to do.
There’s always something going on in this program. Whether they’re going on field trips to Woodloch or catering events, they always manage to stay busy. On top of all that, they also run the Lakeside Café, which is a restaurant in our high school. This is definitely something worth checking out if you like food!
This culinary program prepares students who want to go into the food industry with basic knowledge of the culinary world. They learn everything they need to know to be able to walk into a restaurant and have an entry-level understanding of everything expected of them. Everything from basic knife skills to how to fabricate a chicken.
Not only do students learn the basics of cooking, but they also learn restaurant management. Learning how every part of a restaurant works is incredibly important for students who want to go into this as a career. This CTE program really highlights students’ choices.
Although culinary school is recommended, there is also the option of working upon graduation from high school. That’s another amazing part of this program: there are always countless opportunities to get jobs and there are also job shadow opportunities! Although no one can work in a kitchen until the age of 18, (due to certain equipment), there’s still the option to work washing dishes or bussing tables at local restaurants until the young worker turns eighteen when, at that time, getting hired as a cook is an option. If a student wants to do a culinary specialty, like being a baker, this program can help the student with a job shadowing opportunity with a baker. There are endless opportunities that come with this program!
This school has invested so much in this program from the $11,000 double door hot smoker that’s in the kitchen already to the ten-burner stove that they will be installing sometime in the foreseeable future. It’s unbelievable how many resources have been put into this program by so many people. Chef Lewis is incredibly passionate about what she does, and her pride for her students and this program radiates off her with everything she says and does. However, she is not the only staff member involved in culinary classes. She teaches the CTE classes for tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders.
Chef Gattuso teaches the freshman classes, which are not considered part of the culinary CTE. Chef Lewis is also now collaborating with the French teacher, Mrs. Frey, to teach a French culinary class.
There is so much to be said about this program. When asked why this program was created, Chef Lewis said, “Because of the need in our community for food service workers.” Every successful day that this program lives on is proof of the necessity for a program like this, and it will continue to grow and get better as time goes on. This is another thing to be proud of at Wallenpaupack, but even more than that, it shows how invested our school is in our futures.
