Joliet Central debuts ‘state of the art’ culinary arts lab

Joliet — Over 700 students in Joliet Central High School’s culinary arts classes will get a major upgrade to their classroom space when school resumes for the second semester Wednesday.

Officials from Joliet Township High School District 204 gathered at Joliet Central on Jan. 6 to celebrate the opening of the school’s new culinary arts facilities and provide students and families with a preview before students return from their winter holiday break.

The new facilities are comprise of two new, large classrooms and a “demonstration kitchen” taking up the majority of a hallway on the school’s third floor.

“We used to have two separate culinary arts classrooms up here with a storage space and an unrelated classroom,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Ilandus Hampton. “We decided we wanted to open up the hall and make it a continuous area.”

On one side of the hall, are two large, fully ADA-compliant modern kitchen classrooms, which can accommodate 32 students each and are connected by a kitchen supply and storage room.

Each room is equipped with brand new KitchenAid appliances, including gas ranges and stand mixers, as well as all new furniture and utensils, multiple large-screen, ceiling-mounted TVs for demonstration purposes, and a coat room where students can leave their bags and jackets if necessary and wash up before ever entering the kitchen.

Across the hall is a “demonstration kitchen” which can be used as additional classroom space and is equipped with cameras and broadcast equipment in front of its cooking station so demonstrations by teachers or guest chefs can be recorded for future use or streamed to students in the other classrooms.

“I’ve always loved art and I definitely see food as an art. The teachers give us a lot of creative liberty and encourage us. I’m glad they get to work in this environment now, too. ”

—  Tyler Swearingen, Joliet Central H.S. student

All three rooms are designed for brightness with windows along their interior walls to look into the hallways, providing passing students an opportunity to see inside.

“We wanted to let other students see what was going on,” said Hampton. “This is already a pretty popular program. We think this renovation will make it more popular.”

“We’re so excited to show you these beautiful, state of the art culinary labs,” said Superintendent Dr. Karla Guseman to the gathering of students, staff, and parents.

“This means so much to our kids. They deserve the best and spaces like this are important because they show they are loved and supported by the community,” she said.

Connections in the community

The project took two years to design and complete and incorporated suggestions from students as well as members of the Joliet Junior College culinary arts program, of which many graduates of JTHS classes have expressed interest.

JTHS currently offers three years worth of culinary arts classes to its students, including a dual-credit opportunity with JJC, and multiple professional certification opportunities. Guseman noted these opportunities have helped some of the students get jobs even at local restaurants while they are still in high school.

Students who complete the senior-level class at JTHS have the opportunity to earn their Serve Safe Managers Certification, while sophomores and juniors can earn the Serve Safe Food Handling Certification and the Serve Safe Allergen Certification.

“What this does is update our facilities to meet the needs of our students,” said Guseman. “We are fortunate to have a great culinary program just down the street at JJC and having enhanced facilities expands our potential for certification opportunities and course offerings.”

Guseman also noted that while District 204 strives to have all students graduate “college or career ready,” that having programs that give students hands-on experience helps students plan for the future.

“This means so much to our kids. They deserve the best and spaces like this are important because they show they are loved and supported by the community,”

—  Dr. Karla Guseman, School District 204 superintendent

“Having programs in house like this gives kids an opportunity to explore what they want to do,” she said. “It’s much easier to think about what they like now, than to get to realize they don’t like something in college.”

One student who has definitely decided he enjoys the program and wants to pursue culinary studies at JJC after graduation is sophomore Tyler Swearingen, who attended the ribbon cutting for a classroom preview with his mother.

“It’s definitely very exciting,” he said. “It’s not that the old rooms were bad, but they needed some updating. The fact we have this demonstration area as well as the classrooms is really nice. It makes me want to come to these classes even more.”

While most students begin the culinary arts program as sophomores, Swearingen hopes to graduate early and got permission to begin as a freshman, partially due to his longstanding interest in a culinary career.

“I’ve been interested in culinary arts since middle school, but these classes really solidified it,” Swearingen said. “I’ve always loved art and I definitely see food as an art. The teachers give us a lot of creative liberty and encourage us. I’m glad they get to work in this environment now, too. It’s all very inspiring for me to continue going down this path,” he said.

The process of getting the new facility was complicated, as Hampton noted “we had to do a complete gut, build, and renovation of a third floor space in an occupied school.”

Construction started over the summer, and culinary arts students spent the first semester cooking in the old cafeteria kitchen on the fourth floor, which has been unused since the new cafeteria was added on in 2016.

A similar facility is scheduled to open at Joliet West in time for the fall semester in a brand new addition to the building.