Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools March 2015 | Page 5

Porter Ridge culinary students cooking up success

Students in Porter Ridge High School’s Culinary Academy are
“We’re not allowed to serve the student body, but the faculty has
getting real-world experience, which should help them attain a
been tremendous in supporting us,” Templeton said.
career in the field of culinary arts.
The first time the class prepared lunch for the faculty, students
Chef Elaine Templeton, the academy’s instructor, explained that
allowed staff to do pre-orders. “There was a line down the hall of
the academy is made up of three classes: Intro to Culinary Arts;
people who had not pre-ordered,” Templeton said. “The faculty is
Culinary I; and Culinary II. Classes are limited to 20 students. Each
always asking us, ‘Are we eating this week?’ We can’t keep up with
week, students are assigned a specific duty and those
the orders.”
change weekly.
Students learn everything from wait staff skills – how
to handle a buffet line, meeting clients and being able to
properly serve a plate – to actual food prep duties and
the culinary skills needed to have a successful kitchen.
Templeton recently held an open house and invited
parents and local dignitaries to show off the academy’s
expertise. From the comments made during the event,
apparently students are learning their skills quite well.
“When we have an event like this, students don’t
believe we can get it done,” Templeton said. “When they
see it on the table, it’s a huge confidence boost. Then to
get the affirmation from the people they are serving, the
kids just light up.”
Most of the students in the academy plan to go
to culinary arts school after high school, while others
simply hope to learn cooking skills for their personal
use.
Stephanie Short, an 18-year-old senior, just applied
to Johnson and Wales University where she plans to
pursue a culinary arts degree.
“I actually didn’t have any plans to go to college
until I started this program and now I’m dead set on
culinary,” Short said. “That’s what I want to do with my
life. I hope to open a small bakery or a restaurant.”
Short said she enjoys culinary arts so much that it’s
Chef Elaine Templeton, the Porter Ridge High School Culinary Academy’s
more like a hobby than a job. “I like the artistic side
instructor, second from left, works with students in preparing for the academy’s
of it and the fact that you get to taste and experience
open house, held Jan. 8, 2015. Also pictured, from left, is Megan Murray,
difference flavors. It’s pretty cool.”
Stephanie Short, and Martin Fregoso, all 18-year-old seniors.
The hands-on aspect of the culinary classes is what
Short most enjoys. “We actually get to experience how
to cook and how we would do it in the real world.”
Holidays are especially successful.
One perk of the classes is that students are able to attain a national
At Thanksgiving, students made
board certification called Serve Safe, which lasts for five years.
pound cakes and other sweet
“It’s a very difficult exam,” Templeton said. “This will carry them
delicacies. “We took pre-orders and
through their college years, so if they wanted to get a culinary job
sold out in 24 hours,” Templeton said.
during college, they could.”
As the academy does not have
As the academy is self-sustaining, so students supplement the
health inspections, it cannot cater
class finances by preparing and then selling cakes and take-out
for the general public. T