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Geneva High hoping to offer culinary courses to more students

Hoping to accommodate more students in culinary arts classes, Geneva High School Associate Principal Doug Drexler presented course changes for next year at the Geneva Unit School District 304 board meeting Monday night.

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

But the bigger change would see 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,” Drexler said. “Many of them are looking to continue in culinary arts after high school.

“The difficulty is, we know we have more students interested in that than we are currently getting into that program,” he added.

As a double-period class, it takes up a large chunk of time for students, 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,” he added.

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 an interest in pursuing the culinary field beyond high school as well as those seeking electives that give them more skills for life, Drexler said.

Teachers have looked into incorporating specific skills into these 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. That would give them an edge for part-time, summer jobs or college jobs.

Currently, there are 10 students in the entrepreneurship class but the commercial kitchen can hold double that, Drexler said.

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

The board could approve the course changes at its Nov. 11 meeting.

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