Culinary Skills by Cassie

Culinary Skills by Cassie - June 2025 Scholarship Essay

Home Economics was always seen as a “girly” class while boys went on to participate in “manly” classes like woodworks and automotive. While the boys got to chop trees and get their hands dirty, the girls at my small town high school were expected to just know how to bake cookies and take care of those relentless robot babies. Stevens Point wasn’t the smallest town in Wisconsin but it was the smallest I had ever lived in.
Once that buzzing bell rang, hicks and city boys alike shoved their way through the other 1,499 kids attempting to get to class on time. Even though we were all different with our own values and being raised by various families, the foundational skills learned in Culinary 1 were fundamental to our adult lives.
Kids of completely different backgrounds and social status filed in to Ms. Wedekind’s classroom five days a week to learn about something that joins us as family. In her class everyone tended to goof off just a little bit due to the sleep inducing material. However, on lab days people showed up even when you didn’t realize they were in the class from the start. The energy was just different. The sullen frowns high schoolers typically display quickly turned into smiles and laughter mixed with the sounds of sizzling bacon.
Everyone loved culinary even if it was just for an easy A. We could all learn things like how to boil a pot of water when making mac and cheese. Something a surprising amount of students didn’t know how to do! If this class was widespread and made a requirement in high school, I believe we would all have been happier teenagers, looking forward to our one “fun” class of the day. Skills like working in a team or washing dishes are always going to remain relevant within our adult careers. Why not start early to make an impact on the future generations of this nation?