Cooking up something new at DHS

Culinary Arts students of Patricia Berry assemble finger sandwiches for a lunch later in the day for school employees.

The official name is "Food Production Management and Services," but everyone calls it "culinary arts" and for 14 kids at Diboll High School it might be a ticket to a way of life.

The culinary arts class teaches junior and senior students how to cook - not dinner for the family but a bunch of dinners for a restaurant's clientele. It puts them on the road to being professional chefs.

Teacher Patricia Berry is in her second year teaching here but her first with a fully equipped professional level kitchen that prepares the students for a taste of what's in store. Several students said they are seriously considering making professional cooking their career.

Berry, herself a DHS graduate (she grew up Patricia Parten), has more than 20 years' experience at Angelina College and helped start the cooking program at Hudson High. She came out of retirement last year to start the Diboll program, but last year she didn't have the same level of equipment.

Primary students grades Pre-K thru 1st provided entertainment for Reading Night. The students sang songs they learned in music with Mrs. Kirkland.

This year's upgrade in equipment was "a very, very good move" by the school board, Berry said. "We are growing by leaps and bounds."

She is, in fact, impressed by the school board. "They are concerned enough about the students to provide this level of equipment."

Berry thinks it's a good investment. "I do have some wonderful students. They're all going to college."

When students finish this course, they will have qualified for their food handlers' certifi- cate and will be able to work in any eating establishment.

"When they're through, there's not a restaurant that won't hire them. They can be a restaurant manager," Berry said.

But they don't have to wait that long. Berry is trying to get them involved in the community right now. "We will do baby showers,

reception catering" and other private events. They have baked for the school board, to rave reviews, and sent a Free Press reporter back to the office with an armload of goodies (baked from scratch during the interview), which also received rave reviews.

Employee of the Week for Diboll ISD for Week 2 is Shannon Powell, at-risk coordinator at Temple Elementary.

A mandatory part of the class for students is membership in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, an organization that seeks to foster leadership skills and responsibility, and its STAR program - Students Taking Action for Recognition. Last school year was the first for the group in Diboll, and membership during the year went from 10 to 56.

President of the local chapter is Tyra Stewart, one of the students considering food as a career. Diboll's reigning homecoming queen is headed to Lamar University in the fall. The daughter of Joe and Julia Stephens

wants to come back to Diboll some day and open a restaurant here.

"She is good," Berry said. Nick Smith has similar ambitions. He'd like to work with his family in a restaurant, good cooking being a tradition in the clan. He's the son of Cynthia and Stacy Davenport.

First grade teachers; Mrs. Stewart and Ms. Freeman show students and parent's how fun it can be to have a sight word search with any reading materials like newspapers and cereal boxes. "Reading Night" was held at the Primary School gym Thursday, Nov. 13.

The class is "a lot of hard work," Smith said. "I thought it would be just baking."

Chelsea Harper is "thinking about" food service as a career. Her favorite things about the class are seeing the results of her efforts and working with classmates.

Club Vice President Crystal Spencer also is in the "thinking about it" camp. She has enough outside interests, such as basketball and track, to keep her busy, but a good sign is that she also likes to cook.

Although it obviously has a special place in her heart, the culinary arts class isn't Berry's only job at DHS. She also teaches tree sections of "preparation for parenting" and one on nutrition and food science. Nothing was dropped to make way for the new program, she stressed.

Deciding on a career in restaurant management or cooking is not "settling," she said. One of her former students at Hudson is now studying at Johnson and Wells University in Rhode Island, renowned for its culinary curriculum, and has the legitimate prospect of a career with an annual earning potential of $250,000, comfortably above the minimum wage.

Given the enthusiasm of the students and the career potential involved, steady growth in the program looks to be as certain as sweetness in a cookie.