The teacher is in the lab handing out portable burner stoves to groups of students with a pot of water. One group of students  turn on the stove without waiting for instructions. The teacher promptly tells the students to stop, so they turn off the stove off and put the pot on the back burner. An accident soon occurred.

  “I was holding a  folder while taking attendance. I was putting the folder down on the stove and put my hand right on the  electric burner a student had on,” she said. “This turned out to be one of our first safety lessons.”

    Mrs. Wendy Ivey is the culinary arts teacher. She and her students are getting a completely new state-of-the-art kitchen as part of the overall high school renovation. New equipment includes: combi ovens (a combination of steam and convection), gigantic mixers, walk-in refrigerator, and a video camera hooked up to the T.V. for viewing of live demonstrations. Also, a new bistro will be included. The construction on the new kitchen began spring break 2021 and is now completed as of January 2022. Ivey said she is just waiting for the city permits, so the students can begin cooking in class.

   “ I am so excited to begin using the kitchen and bistro,” Ivey said. “The new bistro will be called Jacket Bee-Stro. It will serve only staff at first but later students also.”

   Throughout the years, there was hardly a kitchen to work with. There wasn’t even a single sink. Now there will be a three compartment sink. In the past, there were gas and electric ovens which caused the students to finish up at different times. The new ovens will help with time management, and it’s going to let the students accomplish much more than in the old kitchen.

   “Before this upgrade, we just did simple recipes and chopping lessons,” Ivey said.

    Ivey says this new kitchen will allow her students to go to the next level and prepare to work in the food industry.

    “My students will gain invaluable knowledge of food preparation, cooking, and baking,” Ivey said.

     Without a shadow of a doubt, this upgrade is definitely something for Ivey and her students to look forward to.

    “This kitchen is unlike any other,” Ivey said. “I want to invite the whole school to come check it out.”