Cooking With Poudre: What's Cooking in the Kitchen?

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Have you ever thought of joining a class where you cook? Then Poudre is the place for you! Poudre has an exceptional culinary Program run by Mrs. McGinty. Poudre offers many engaging classes like Culinary Nutrition and Catering 1 and 2. The FCS (family and Consumer sciences) department also hosts a club called Bake Club. For those who are more inclined toward baking and sweet treats in their free time.

Culinary Nutrition

Culinary Nutrition is a great overview class to introduce you to the world of the Poudre culinary program. Culinary Nutrition is the recomended Pre-Req for the rest of the culinary classes Poudre offers. Culinary Nutrition is a fun class where you learn about the Science of cooking and actually enjoy the final product. most of the classes are hands-on cooking; in an interview with Brooks, a past student of the class, he says, “We weren't cooking every single day, but we cooked pretty frequently.” He also mentions how you would get to cook in a real industrial setting. This is great for those who want to go further than high school in the culinary field, or those who want to know what it is like to work in the industry.

Catering Classes

Catering is an amazing class where you not only get to cook for yourselves, but you also get to cook for real people. You get to cook in the Poudre Industrial Kitchen with Industrial equipment and ingredients. You get to learn what it is like to work in a real Kitchen. Poudre operates a food truck in catering 2, with providing those within the class with an opportunity to get to enjoy the class outside of school, operating it at school events and gatherings. If you do not work well in high stress situations, this is not a class for you. It offers in-person and hands-on experiences 

If you are looking for more hands-on experience working with others in a kitchen and more with food, Catering 1 and Catering 2 would be a great class for you! In order to take catering 2, you must take catering 1. Catering 1 will go over all of the basics so, no need for any prior knowledge. Mrs. McGinty will teach all students in catering one the skills they need to advance and flourish in catering 2, also in catering 1 you will have a lot of practice that goes towards a Servsafe manager certification that you can receive in catering 2. If you choose to, you can move up putting all of those skills you learned in catering 1 in use. you cook more in catering 2 then in catering 1 and have the option for more complex recipes. Catering 2 students also get a say on .what they would like to cook . Catering 2 is a semester long class that alternates every other day (A/B class), halfway through your time in catering 2 you will have the chance to take the Managerial ServSafe certification test. The test consists of 90 questions, and if that scares you Mrs. McGinty's classes have the second highest passing rate in the district. The certification will help the students getting a job within the food industry. Catering 2 students have also gotten the opportunity to feed the community through a variety of events including 8th grade preview night, Impalaween, IB showcase and many more!

There are so many awesome opportunities to get involved with the perfect class for you here at Poudre. Make sure to reach out to your counselor to figure out what options might work best for your schedule and graduation plans!

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Zethan Anderson is a freshman and is new to the poudre press. He was a part of the football team and is in the lacrosse team. His interests consist of food, cooking, and playing video games. His plans for the future are to go to culinary school and become an expert in the kitchen.