This article is part of Concentrate's Voices of Youth series, which features stories written by Washtenaw County youth with guidance from Concentrate staff mentors, as well as adult-written stories spotlighting local youth perspective. In this installment, student writer Audra Ambrozaitis looks into how students are getting culinary career experience through Huron High School's Culinary and Hospitality program.

Learning how to cook is never easy, but when you have help from teachers and chefs it can be beneficial. At Huron High School's Culinary and Hospitality program in Ann Arbor, students can get hands-on learning experience from professionals who have worked in the industry to improve their cooking, or even learn to cook for the first time.

Students in the program begin their first semester learning basic cooking and baking skills. As they continue through the program, they learn advanced hospitality skills like front-of-house work, hospitality management, inventory, pricing, marketing, and advertising.

"They can take the program one year and get basic cooking/baking skills, plus [get] certified in safety and sanitation. In addition, [in] the first year students will participate in catering and events throughout the year. We average two to three catering events a week," says Chef Samantha Dye, culinary arts instructor at Huron High.

Doug CoombeSamantha Dye.
"Students come into class for two hours in their school day. Upon walking in, they get into uniform and prepare for the day. Students will be working on a skill all at the same time, achieving the same task, or they will be assigned individually to a skill they need to work on based on the order or event we have for that day," she adds. 

Huron senior Nathan Barnett took the class to see if a culinary career would be a good fit for him.

"The reason I wanted to take this class was to learn if working in the culinary industry would be a viable path for me in the future," Barnett says. "I would say this was a huge success because we have been given a lot of opportunities from catering events to Thanksgiving bake sales. Any opportunity for real world experience I have loved, and given my all." 

Doug CoombeNathan Barnett.
Career and technical education (CTE) classes like the Culinary and Hospitality program can often offer valuable life skills and enhance creativity and knowledge. They can also strengthen responsibility and social-emotional development, and they often build community among students.

Huron junior Lianhi Quijada learned about the Culinary and Hospitality program through a career program fair.

"Previous students from the program told me how much they loved it. I was intrigued and actually went along with it," Quijada says. "... I love this class! We have built such a community through cooking. It can be stressful in times where we have to work quickly, but I've grown accustomed to it and I think I do really well."

Doug CoombeLiahni Quijada.
Senior Tayla Nesmith says she "expected to learn the basic fundamentals in the culinary industry" from the class.

Many students expect to learn the basics of food safety and sanitation, cooking techniques, and meal planning. While cooking can either be a hit or miss, there are struggles that students still face. 

Barnett explains: "The change from a home cook to industry cook is a very large swing."

"At home you maybe make a meal for your family, and in this class you have to cook professional-grade meals, as well as bake professional-grade pastries, for [events fluctuating] from 50 to 300 people," Barnett says. "It takes a while to change your mentality to the necessary hustle of the kitchen, because when you only have about 12 students cooking for 300 people it is a constant hustle for at least two- to eight-hour days."

Dye says the entire class faces certain challenges.

"Budget is always our biggest enemy. Food costs are continuing to increase every year where our budget stays the same," she says. "We are working with perishables. So time and money is our biggest challenge. We continue to find solutions and try to give our students the best opportunities and experiences to give them the skills and tools they need to be successful in industry." 

While having limitations, Dye also has big aspirations for the program's future. 

"We have been pushing for a student-run restaurant that would be open for lunch and once a month for dinner," she says. "Other CTE programs in the state of Michigan have this and we don't. That has been our goal."

Concentrate staffer Sarah Rigg served as Audra's mentor on this article.

All photos by Doug Coombe.