Madeline Edwards
SPRINGTOWN — Springtown High School senior Shelby Davis hopes to one day open her own restaurant and give people a taste of comforting dishes like pasta and “the kind of things your mom would make.”
But for now, she's providing nutritious meals to children in the Springtown Independent School District.
The SHS Culinary Arts program welcomed new initiatives this school year. It's an internship for seniors working in cafeterias on other campuses in the district. According to SHS Culinary Arts Instructor Elise Jacoby, this allows students to practice using kitchen equipment that they will need to become familiar with in order to work in food service in restaurants or hotels in the future, all while working around their class schedules.
“Additionally, the staff in the Department of Child Nutrition provided the unique ability for students to visit different campuses and learn different management styles. I don't think I could have gotten it by myself,” said Jacoby, but she is also open to student internship opportunities elsewhere in the community.
In an interview with the Tri-County Reporter earlier this year, Jacoby said the internship program was going well and the high school seniors were enjoying learning how to prepare and serve meals. Depending on your schedule and the school you're serving, you'll be involved in various stages of the process, from serving to planning the next day's meals.
“I think it's really great for them to be able to see what's going on behind the scenes and how they're putting into practice what they've learned over the last three years,” Jacoby said. Told. “They can put it into practice in an industry-based environment.”
Davis participated in her former school's culinary program in Keller since her freshman year, honing her skills and working towards opening her own restaurant. She has always loved cooking, feeding people, and seeing people's reactions to her cooking.
Regarding his dream job, Davis said, “I want to be able to work for myself and make the food I want to make, not what someone else tells me to make.''
When Davis moved to Springtown, she was fortunate enough to continue her studies in culinary classes at SHS. She credits her Springtown food education with being more diverse and seems to include her learning about nutritional science.
“What I was concerned about was that Springtown didn't have practicums. I knew Springtown was a small campus, so I wasn't sure how it would work here, but the way they do it… I like it,” Davis said. “It’s different, but I feel like I’m learning something different.”
For example, Davis said that while she worked primarily with fellow high school students while at Keller, her internship at SHS allowed her to learn from people older than herself.
“I feel like I’m getting more experience from people who have more experience,” she said.
Cafeteria internships are new, but SHS's culinary arts program is not. Jacoby said it started during the 2009-2010 school year, about 10 years before she enrolled. Since then, the program has grown “exponentially,” Jacoby said. Through these classes, students can earn a certification as a food manager. This allows you to take on management positions in restaurants, take on more responsibilities at work, and generally gives you an advantage when going to culinary school.
The internship and culinary arts program as a whole is aimed not only at students who want to pursue higher education, but also at students who want to go into the workforce and pursue an apprenticeship after graduation, Jacoby said.
“If they want to come out of high school and want to go directly into the kitchen and work for chefs and learn through that route, they have knowledge of how the equipment works. ” she says. “They have knowledge of the brigade system in the kitchen that has already been set up, so they go in with practical knowledge to apply it in the field.”
Another intern, senior Jaycee Yost, is interested in following a career path that has less to do with culinary arts: child psychology. Nevertheless, Yost finds the internship valuable because working in the school cafeteria allows her to interact with children and observe their behavior.
“Pursuing child psychology 100% also gives me good experience working with children, because I see a variety of children in my lunch line every day, some of whom tend to be more shy. There are some kids out there, and some of them, I actually think,' I know personally,'' Yost said. “You can tell if a child is having a bad day by looking at their behavior.”
In addition to enjoying working with children, Davis and Yost said they also had positive experiences with child nutrition staff.
Davis remembers seeing depictions of mean cafeteria workers on screen as a child. After she worked with actual lunchroom staff, she began to have a different perception.
“They're actually very nice people,” Davis said. “They really care a lot.”
Similarly, Yost said more people should focus on people working in food service.
“I've had my fair share of mean students, and I realized that maybe I shouldn't have been so rude when I was their age,” Yost said. “The work they (cafeteria workers) do should be more respected. People really underestimate them. There are things they do for us that we didn't know. there are a lot of.”
Jacoby said the internship was an “eye-opener” for the students, who now have a greater appreciation for cafeteria workers. The chef was also grateful.
“I’m really grateful to the nutrition staff and those who worked with our children and helped them through the learning process,” she said. “I think it’s been really nice that they’ve been open to it as well, and everyone seems to be really enjoying it. It’s been a real pleasure to be a part of it and it brings joy to everyone else in the program.” It's really great to see.”
SISD Child Nutrition Director Kimberly Nash said she is excited to be a part of this internship and is already looking forward to next year.
“We're here to serve our students, but this is another one that can support them and give them the experience they need to go out into the real world and get a job, etc. It's an opportunity,” Nash said. “We are now able to not only feed the students, but also help them with their classes.”
Working in a kitchen is never a peaceful experience, and it can be difficult for someone like Yost who suffers from anxiety. Fortunately, this internship allowed her to practice how to control her emotions within her hectic situation.
“Kids tend to scream a lot, and sometimes it can get a little overwhelming,” Yost said. “But sometimes I think, 'I just need to take a breath. Can I take a step back?' And when I take a breath and step back in, everything is fine. It's a stress-inducing environment, but… Sometimes you have to learn how to succeed in the most unusual places.”
