Pro-Start classes begin "farm to table" project

At the start of the school year, NRHEG family and consumer sciences (FACS) teacher Calle Chartrand cautioned the 20-some students who signed up for the school Pro-Start program “this is a year-long commitment.” She says she warned them they need to be serious about the rules and practices of preparing safe food using safe methods, and that they are part of a team with important goals to accomplish.

 

“They agreed they were ‘all in,’” she concludes.

 

The Pro-Start program is part of NRHEG’s career and technical education (CTE) program, as are courses in woodworking, welding, and machine maintenance taught in other parts of the building.

 

Students Camryn VanMaldeghem and Lexi McGanon are in their second year of Pro-Start; more than 20 others are in the first year. Camryn and Lexi explain the very first element of the course is to learn about the elements of safe food preparation, study, and then take the state certification test on the topic. The test is the same as the one required of specified workers in the food preparation industry.

 

“No one cooks until they’ve passed the test,” comments Lexi.

 

Once the cooking and baking begin, participants learn by doing, and even sometimes by competing. Camryn and Lexi describe “wing wars” from last year, when the class broke into groups, decided on a distinctive flavoring for chicken wings, acquired the needed ingredients, and then prepared the food for secondary school staff members to taste and vote on. They mention spicy hot, lemon pepper, honey barbecue, sweet chili and parmesan flavors.

 

Annual highlights of the Pro-Start program include off-site events, including a CRAVE competition held at Mankato State, a statewide Pro-Start competition for which groups put their own touches on specific required foods named before the contest, and Stars of the Future, an event where Pro-Start students take their food preparation skills to an elegant venue selected by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the organization which sponsors Pro-Start.

 

Everyday projects and assignments, Chartrand explains, are meant to help build student skills, so they can be taken to the higher levels.

 

One way she believes students can improve the food they prepare is to use fresh ingredients. Toward that end, Chartrand recently had the Pro-Start students getting spaces ready in the school’s CTE greenhouse.

 

Students have already planted herbs, including basil, chives, cilantro, marjoram, peppermint and thyme. Once those are thriving, Chartrand says the next step is to expand to vegetables, which will likely include tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, zucchini and cucumbers.

 

“Those fresh ingredients could really enhance the food we prepare for those many events,” she observes.

 

Camryn and Lexi say they have some experience with the herbs, but look forward to finding out what flavors they bring to the food they prepare.

 

They, and fellow enthusiast Anika Ladlie, say the enjoy food-related courses as much for the love of cooking and baking as for the possibility of someday working in the food service industry. Camryn names her grandmother Judy and her homemade macaroni and cheese as an inspiration. Anika names her grandmother Fran who makes not only pancakes, but maple syrup to go with them. Lexi says her inspiration is her grandmother Kathy, who makes cinnamon rolls anticipated by the whole family. Lexi takes some pride in having learned the recipe and techniques and having prepared some cinnamon rolls which match her grandmother’s.

 

“We want to cook for people, and we want to do it in a way that’s safe for everyone,” says Camryn.

 

And that, the three can’t help mentioning, is a lot of work.

 

“It took a lot of time and effort to get everything in the greenhouse ready,” comments Lexi. “And now we have to make sure the plants have what they need to keep growing.” The vegetables, they anticipate, will take even more attention.

 

“It’s all worth it,” says Anika. “We get to use it to get better at doing something we love to do.”