The World is Their Oyster

Culinary educators today start earlier at the high school level to show the many career opportunities that await

Food stylist, winemaker, event planner, nutritionist. These are all jobs that fall within the realm of culinary arts but are not the jobs students typically think of when they apply to culinary school. Most usually aspire to become a restaurant chef.

Culinary educators, however, and especially those at the secondary level, find great joy in opening their pupils’ eyes to the much broader world in foodservice that awaits students upon graduation.

Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club, Texas, regularly hosts guest speakers to show students different career options. Recently, the general manager and a human resources employee from the local Hilton hotel visited to talk about different roles students could pursue at the hotel.

Educators at the high school also take students on field trips to different establishments. “Some of them have never seen a giant hotel or the back of house of an operation,” says ACF Chef Victoria Hooker, CCC, CCE, MBA , academy facilitator and culinary arts instructor at Byron Nelson, the only ACFaccredited secondary school in Texas. “Until they see it, it’s empty words coming out of my mouth. We can now take them on more field trips so they have more exposure.” One field trip took students to a local community college, also to expose them to available paths they could follow.

Students also get to practice their skills on campus by running the dining room — cooking, serving, providing customer service and learning how to deal with mistakes. “It’s really pushing them,” Chef Hooker points out.

Another school training kids for a career in culinary is Arizona College Prep High School in Chandler, Arizona, which is now in its second year.

One of the first things students accomplish is getting their food handler’s permit “so right away they’re employable, and some go out and get jobs,” says teacher and ACF Chef Jennifer Hudson, who is pursuing both her ACF certification and accreditation for the school. She keeps a job board showing what’s available and how much the jobs pay; she updates it regularly.

With this permit, students can also begin working culinary events and hopefully making a product that’s consistent enough to sell at the school store, Chef Hudson says. The dream, however, is to have a food truck the students can run. If and when that happens, Chef Hudson plans to put the students to work on that

By Amanda Baltazar

front, researching how much it will cost, how they could pay for it, how to handle insurance for it and so forth.

To learn about different careers, students at the school undertake a research project and present it to the class. “They look at entry-level careers and research technical careers that require an apprenticeship or an associate’s degree and more advanced jobs that need a bachelor’s degree or Ph.D.,” Chef Hudson says.

“Some of these kids are very good at math and science and are very interested in food science,” she says. “Some do internships at places like NASA; they think about what type of foods astronauts need and what are their nutritional needs in space.” For the record, ACF maintains a longstanding partnership with NASA’s HUNCH program, which recruits students for its annual culinary challenge to create a recipe for astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Even if students don’t end up pursuing a culinary career, Chef Hudson says, “we’re setting them up for life. We talk about cost analysis, how to buy ingredients and shopping in season.” Students learn how to lead, follow, resolve conflict and correct mistakes, she adds.

Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Arizona, draws in high school graduates for its culinary program, where ACF Chef Ashley Holian is in her first year as program director, having graduated from the school in 2009.

First and foremost, the goal is to develop wellrounded culinary students, says Chef Holian. One way she’s doing that is by bringing in a lot of guest speakers. Because the school is ACF-accredited, a lot of ACF members visit. “We offer opportunities for our students to engage with professionals in the industry who are no longer kitchen-bound and have gone into sales or marketing or have their own coffee places,” she says. “So we do try to get them in front of industry people.”

Speakers might include a sommelier talking about his or her transition from culinary to wine; or someone might talk about their experience in culinary school and how they went from that to where they are now. The school is also trying to bring in a lot of female chefs. “These people can answer questions and give more context for students who have preconceived notions,” says Chef Holian.

For experience, the culinary program has intentionally stayed away from internships in favor of its own student-run restaurant. That way, “they can do that simulation [of a restaurant experience] without going outside, and it’s a little more controlled,” says Chef Holian, who notes that the 30 enrolled students are broken up into pods of 10. “So at any given moment, we have a cohort making the breads and desserts; another making hot foods and appetizers; and another doing the front of house.”

As for discussing the students’ future careers, there are rarely, if ever, formal one-on-one talks. “We’re in the trenches daily with them so these conversations are mostly had in real time, especially once we get to know them,” Chef Holian says. “The conversations tend to happen organically, and it makes for a bit more of an enjoyable conversation rather than putting them on the spot. More conversations come up, too, and that sparks discussion.”

ACFEF Accreditation

Accreditation is the primary public symbol of legitimate higher education and that standards of the highest quality are being met. Attending a culinary program that is accredited by the ACFEF assures that the program is meeting standards for faculty, curriculum and student services and that students are learning and obtaining relevant industry skill competencies.

Here are some of the benefits of ACFEF accreditation:

• Increases program prestige at a national level

• Can be used as a strong marketing tool for recruiting students

• H elps to obtain Perkins funding and federal grants

• Students earn industry-recognized ACF certification upon graduation

To learn more about seeking ACFEF accreditation for your school or program, visit acfchefs.org/ACF/ Education

To find a program, visit acfchefs.org/ACF/Education/ Programs