Top chef in training: Sikeston School District starts culinary arts program

SIKESTON -- When her culinary arts students are in action, Kerrie Swain describes the situation as organized chaos.

"It's almost like an assembly line," she said. "When we're in the kitchen, everybody knows what they're supposed to do."

While one pair of students was spreading pimento cheese on slices of bread, another was cutting them in half and placing them on a platter. Across the kitchen, one student was sprinkling pecans on a dessert while another was cutting brownies and two more were checking cookies before taking them out of the oven. All the while, a student was washing dishes. Swain was supervising and answering any questions the students had.

When the school year began in August so did the culinary arts program at Sikeston Career and Technology Center.

"They've wanted this program at Sikeston for several years. We wrote a grant and the state accepted it during the 2008-2009 school year," said Swain, who previously worked as a family and consumer science teacher at the high school.

Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff school districts also have culinary arts programs in place so Sikeston school officials realized the need is there, Swain said.

"Ninety percent of all high school students will work in the food service industry between high school and their real career," Swain said.

To be eligible for the course, students must have taken a lower level family and consumer science course, which teaches basic kitchen knowledge, such as the different utensils and pots and pans used.

"They have two textbooks -- one is about ServSafe (food safety training guidelines) and the other follows the ProStart curriculum," Swain said.

The ProStart curriculum is a career-building program for high school students who are interested in culinary arts and foodservice management. Over two years, students experience classroom study, mentored work experiences and local and national competitions.

"When they graduate, they should know the proper technique and health codes that should be abided by in restaurants," Swain said.

Like the lower level family and consumer science class, the culinary arts class is still about cooking -- but in mass quantities, Swain said.

"And you don't get to eat the food like in family and consumer science. With this, you're making it for someone else," Swain said.

And there are always projects to do, Swain said. For example, this week the students catered cookies for the Southeast Missouri Conference Tournament at the Sikeston Field House. On Friday the students cooked for a teacher's luncheon.

Besides desserts, the students have made salads, chicken alfredo, breadsticks, side dishes, soups and chili.

"Working with kids and seeing them succeed in this kitchen and looking at their faces when they make something is the best part of this," Swain said.

For students like Kristin Curry, the culinary arts program can serve as a boost to their careers post-high school. The senior at Sikeston High School said she wants to go on to culinary school after graduation.

"I want to own a bakery and pastry shop one day," Curry said.

Will Meyer, also a senior at Sikeston High School, said cooking runs deep in his family.

"I'm planning on cooking for the Army," Meyer said about why he took the course.

Sikeston High School senior Mary Deason, who took the class because she loves cooking, said she and her peers have learned about teamwork and how to take criticism. She advised younger students to enroll in the class for the right reasons.

"Don't take it because you think it's easy and you'll be baking stuff for other people," Deason said.

Students are involved in every aspect of the kitchen -- from ordering the food, to prepping it, to cooking and serving as well as cleaning, Swain said.

"And no one student does the same job," she said. "We take turns all the time."

Swain said she anticipates a big enrollment in the course next school year.

"I'm expecting to have too many kids," Swain said, adding 15 students in a block is plenty.

Plans for the program include opening a mini restaurant called Pit Stop Cafe -- complete with a soda fountain, tables and public restroom -- to the high school faculty this spring. The restaurant is connected to the culinary arts kitchen in H Building.

Swain said she also hopes to open the cafe one day a week beginning in August or September to the public. Another goal in the works is offering an evening culinary arts adult education program, Swain said.

"It's always going to be a work in progress," Swain said of the new program. "Each year we're going to be improving it and making better."