Opelika High School

What’s Cooking?

Story By Stacey Patton Wallace Photos By Mike Wallace and Contributed By Judy Elred

Too many cooks spoil the broth. That well-known adage isn’t the case in Chef Judy Eldred’s culinary arts classes at Opelika High School, where she has been teaching for the last seven years. Eldred, a graduate of the Orlando Culinary Academy, which is part of Le Cordon Bleu, teaches about 110 students per year in three or four classes a semester. Her culinary arts classes are the restaurant, food and beverages portion of the Career Tech program at OHS. The introductory course in the culinary arts program is Hospitality and Tourism. This class covers a very broad spectrum. Students learn about hotels, restaurants, the service industry, travel and etiquette. “This has been a growing industry in the last few years,” Eldred said.

In the introductory course, students have paper/pencil tests on basic terminology and correct cooking times and temperatures for food safety. Eldred’s second course, Culinary I, is more focused. In it, students learn basic knife skills and cuts for meats and vegetables. Also, they learn about the five mother sauces: tomato, brown, béchamel (white), Hollandaise and mayonnaise. The students spend a week on each protein and focus on the parts, rather than the whole dish. After completing Culinary I, students may choose to take either Culinary II or Baking and Pastry Art. In Culinary II, students take all that they learned in Culinary I and make a complete dish.

For example, students, using a multi-step process, learn to make eloquent dishes such as traditional hors d’oeuvres. Students in Baking and Pastry Art are introduced to bread making. They learn to bake laminated doughs such as croissants, and yeast doughs such as yeast rolls, sour dough bread and Challah bread, a traditional Jewish bread. Students in this class also bake basic cakes, pies and cookies; they also learn to decorate cakes. In Culinary I, Culinary II and Baking and Pastry Art classes students work together as a team and are graded on performance- based projects and on whether or not they stay on task and get the projects done on time. “My greatest challenge is getting my students to understand that this skill set will be something they need to know later on in a future career, even if they aren’t currently using it at home,” Eldred said. “Also, one in five people at sometime in their lives will work in the food industry.” Eldred said her greatest joy is when her students begin to enjoy class.

“It’s great when they start to get it and the light bulb goes on,” she said. One of Eldred’s former students is currently enrolled in Auburn University’s Culinary Arts program. In addition, Eldred said that her classes will be touring Auburn’s new state-of-the-art Culinary Arts facility, which will be completed later this year. Other former students are working their way through college in the food service industry at restaurants and quick service locations. “This culinary arts program at OHS is important, not only if students plan to do this for a living, but because they will also be able to prepare a good meal for themselves, their parents or a date,” Eldred said. OHS’s culinary arts students also partner with students in the agriculture program. For instance, the students recently hosted a dinner in which they used lettuce and basil which were grown from the aquaponics program at OHS. In addition, last summer, the two programs combined forces once again. While the agriculture students grew corn, tomatoes, green beans and zipper peas, the culinary students canned the fresh produce. Eldred’s students in her Culinary II class all echo the same sentiments: they greatly appreciate and admire their teacher, and they love her class.

Senior Randall Davis, who has been in the culinary arts program since he was in the ninth grade, said, “I really like the environment and the teamwork. Your teammates can help you out.” Junior Shamyria Hughley used to watch the Food Network with her grandma.

“When I came to Opelika High School, taking Ms. Eldred’s class was a great opportunity for me,” said Hughley, who plans to become a mortician. “I learned about why she became a chef; she inspires me.”

Senior Clinton Chisholm, who is in Eldred’s Baking and Pastry Art class, assists in Culinary II. After Chisholm earns a doctorate and becomes a history professor, he said he wants to attend the Culinary Arts program at Auburn University and be a professional pastry chef, eventually owning his own bakery. Interestingly, Eldred owned her own bakery, “Scrumdiddlyumptious,” in Smiths Station before she began her teaching career at OHS.

Senior Matthew Riddle, who has been in the culinary arts program since ninth grade, is currently a line cook at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Resort & Spa at Grand National.

“My job is to make sure that everything is sanitary and to clean the equipment so that there are no pathogens in the food,” Riddle said. “I plan to join the Alabama Army National Guard where I will be able to use the skills I’ve learned in my culinary arts classes.” Junior Nehemiah Moore, who has been with Eldred since ninth grade, said that learning to cook for himself has become a hobby. He plans to become a teacher or a psychologist.

“This class has changed me,” Moore said. “It has made me more independent and better able to think for myself in stressful situations.” Junior Amauria Hann, who has also been with Eldred since ninth grade, echoed her classmates’ high praise of Eldred and her culinary arts classes.

“It’s a good experience to learn something new every day,” she said. “I’m not a good cook, but Ms. Eldred has really helped me. If I get frustrated, she picks me up; I might have quit my first year without her. She’s like our mom.” Eldred’s students also agree that their teacher always makes sure that they practice safety in her class. For example, they wear gloves and slip-resistant shoes. Also, Allen the aloe plant stands by in case of burns, but thankfully, he hasn’t been called into service.

“Ms. Eldred is very serious about what we do in here,” Chisholm said. “She makes sure that everybody is safe.” OHS’s culinary arts students are also involved in various competitions. For example, this year, one of Eldred’s students won a silver medal in the Individual Culinary Competition at the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Competition held at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham. Also this year, both Culinary and Management teams competed in the ProStart Invitational at Perdido Beach Resort. The culinary team received the Teamwork and Spirit Award. On April 12, the Alabama Army National Guard sent representatives to judge students on a Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) challenge. On April 28, Eldred and her students traveled to Orlando, Florida, for the Cook Around the World Competition. This is a one-day competition hosted at Walt Disney World Resort. It is a team event; OHS competed and won against teams from all over the country. In April 2019, over 300 schools competed. However, the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19. Eldred said that in the Cook Around the World Competition, before the event, each school is given a region and a generic pantry list, which includes ingredients in foods from that region. However, the students didn’t know what they would actually be cooking until they arrived at the competition. After the one-day competition, a dinner gala was held on the second day for all the participants. OHS was announced as the overall winner at the dinner, and a celebrity chef was the guest speaker. Eldred and her students are living proof that too many cooks don’t spoil the broth. Instead, with a great educator and terrific students using teamwork, they make it even better.

Dear OHS Class of 2022,

On behalf of the Opelika High School faculty and staff, I want to congratulate you on reaching this milestone of high school graduation. Your resilience and determination throughout your career at Opelika High School are items that stand out to me as most impressive.

In this time of celebration, I urge you to reflect back on your high school experience — not just the last few months. I ask that you take the lessons learned, the content gained and most importantly, the relationships fostered, to shape the future in a way that represents you, your

family and Opelika, in a powerful way. I can say that I am excited to see what the next chapter holds for you all. I encourage you to work hard in every endeavor you pursue and to seek opportunities to encourage others along life’s path.

Please know that the Opelika High School family will always be here to help and will encourage you along the way. We look forward to celebrating with you at our graduation ceremony on May 27.

Go Dawgs! Farrell Seymore Principal, OHS