A kids got to eat! by Yasmin

A kids got to eat! by Yasmin - November 2021 Scholarship Essay

If I rewind my life back approximately three years and two months, I would be enrolled in culinary one at my high school. Culinary was my second period class and it got me excited and ready for school. The set-up of the class, the environment, the curriculum, everything about it made it by far my favorite class freshman year. Culinary should be a more emphasized class in all schools because it can be so useful for what the future of teenagers has to offer. Allow me to break the class down… First quarter, we spent most of the class time learning measurements and conversions. Some of the most basic baking and cooking knowledge, I did not have prior to the class. Now I cannot speak for everyone but, judging from the way my classmates did on each week’s quiz, they did not have that knowledge either. Once we moved past that, the fun started. We were assigned groups of 5 and as a freshman, I knew no one in my class. This was the perfect opportunity to meet them all and become good friends with them. The first thing we ever baked were these delicious chocolate chip cookies. My group worked so well together and although the cookies were so simple to make, we easily split up the work and encouraged each other to help. Each week we learned a new recipe, each recipe became more difficult than the one before, but the class was up for the challenge every time. We were learning to cook and bake; what more could we ask for? Now that I look back at it, the recipes were easy to make, they were things like soup, cake, eggs, and other staple item recipes but they set us up for more advanced success in the kitchen. Those easy recipes were necessary starters. How else would we learn the basics of cooking and baking? I must admit, the chef knew how to teach us more than I thought he did. We rotated people in the groups every few weeks which gave us all an opportunity to learn how to work well with anyone. Because the class was so hands-on, there was always room for helping each other. The rest of the year went by, and we continued to cook a new recipe each week, I learned so much in that class. My sophomore year I signed up for culinary two. Many of my classmates in culinary one did not sign up because they felt they knew enough and did not want to continue. Culinary two was not like culinary one, it was stricter, the recipes were more difficult, and the chef was “harder” on the class. This was completely fine though; everyone knew what they signed up for and they were ready! This year I learned how to cut and cook chicken; something I was always scared to do in my kitchen at home. I also learned many other more advanced recipes that I probably would have never tried on my own. Although right now many students may not think it is important to learn these basic cooking skills, they should for their future. If you think about where most high schoolers will be ten years from now, they will be needing recipes and not math formulas. Although there are many families who include their children in cooking dinner but not all do. Therefore, I think that having a class at school that allows students to learn how to cook is very important. Everyone must eat and at some point, they will have to learn to get food on their own. Although take out is always an option, it is not a healthy not economical option. It is because of that exact reason that I think culinary classes should be not only offered at every school but almost mandatory at least for one year. I really wish culinary had been more enforced at my school so that my friends would take away the same life skills I did. Now, as a senior, I try my best to remember the formulas from my geometry class, but I typically need a “cheat sheet”. On the other hand, I can still remember a lot of the recipes and what the tips and tricks to make them well were.