Geneva schools going gourmet with culinary arts program next year

Hoping to accommodate more students into its culinary arts classes, Geneva High School Associate Principal Doug Drexler presented course changes for next year at the District 304 School Board meeting Oct. 28.

Drexler said the proposal is to have Gourmet Foods replace the International Foods course.

The bigger change would be to have the Restaurant Entrepreneurship course become a two-semester, single-period class instead of the current double-period class, he said.

“It’s a great program. Students do very well in it. They learn a lot. Many of them are looking to continue in culinary arts after high school,” Drexler said of the capstone class. “The difficulty is we know we have more students interested in that than we are currently getting into that program.”

As a double-period class, it takes up a chunk of time for students who may not have decided for sure that’s what they want to do, Drexler said.

“They have a whole lot of other interests and requirements that they’re to meet. It’s been a barrier to some students to access this program,” Drexler said. “So we have found a way to condense that into a full year, one-period class, which makes it very similar to most of the other classes students are taking.”

Students are required to take Culinary Arts and Gourmet Foods before they can take the Restaurant Entrepreneurship class.

“It’s the same content ... the same skills being taught in a more modular format,” Drexler said. “This gives the culinary students much more flexibility.”

The change would benefit students who have a high interest in pursuing the culinary field beyond high school and students who are seeking electives that give them more skills for life, Drexler said.

Teachers have looked into incorporating specific skills into the courses so students can earn a food manager’s license from the Illinois Department of Public Health through the entrepreneurship class or a food handler license through the Gourmet Foods class. It would give students an edge for part-time, summer jobs or college jobs, Drexler said, as they would have credentials and portable licenses.

There are 10 students in the Restaurant Entrepreneurship class but the commercial kitchen can hold double that amount, Drexler said.

“It would be ideal if we could capture that number,” Drexler said.

The board will be asked to approve the course changes at its next meeting Nov. 11.