Prior to the new year, our culinary students were making the trek to Mountain Gateway Community College in order to have a kitchen to work in – the ride there and back took almost half an hour off their already two-period-spanning class.
The CTE wing began renovations and construction in the summer of 2023, which means students have been traveling for class for a school year and a half.
The day winter break came to a close, students moved into their long-awaited classroom and kitchen.
“Everything is very clean and new,” sophomore Emma Johnson said.
Compared to the Mountain Gateway space, “It’s bigger, but our workspace is smaller,” Johnson said.
“There’s not other people’s things in it… It’s our own,” sophomore Ava Dahl said.
Students are satisfied with the space, the sleek equipment, and the time that having their own space has given them.
The kitchen, while finished, has only just become accessible for students. The new kitchen, according to Dahl, is “very high-tech”.
“It’s gorgeous,” junior Karla Macedo said.
The kitchen is equipped with all-new equipment, including appliances that they didn’t have access to prior to the renovation.
“From our old kitchen, we had one 6-burner stove… now we have five 6-burner stoves, so we went from 6 burners to 30 burners, which makes a big difference as far as doing our catering work and of course our food labs,” Culinary teacher Corey Wallace said. “We went from one deep fryer to four deep fryers… It gives us more options to do a variety of different things,”
Included in their new selection of appliances, they now also have a walk-in refrigerator and a walk-in freezer, an ice machine, a tilt skillet and a tilt kettle and an indoor grill/broiler.
The original kitchen was retro-fitted in the 80’s so some of their appliances were from the , and some were replaced.
They also now have their own separate serving area and community room.
Mr. Wallace and his students are satisfied with the work on the CTE wing and especially within their classroom and kitchen.
