Not long after the last bell rings, the scent of fresh food wafts from room 302 through the hallways. Do you know what that means? Culinary Club is back up and running!
Culinary Club adviser Jennifer Anderson is hoping to make the most out of this newly revived opportunity.
“I’m hoping students come in excited,” Anderson said. “[That] they put their stuff down, wash their hands and they’re ready to jump into whatever we’re cooking.”
With some students, music helps with focusing, so Anderson decides to make a music playlist special to each one of her classes, including Culinary Club.
“It’s something to get you in the mood to cook,” Anderson said.
Anderson’s goal is for the kids to be able to create whatever dish they want to make that day. The Culinary Club does not have a big budget, which is why the club only takes place once a month. This limitation allows for students to have the opportunity to make the foods that they want.
“I’m hoping we can share recipes and broaden people’s food experience,” Anderson said. “Sometimes at home they only make certain things, so being able to come here and try different things, and taking them home I guess be the ultimate goal. They go home and they teach their family.”
Anderson gave her Culinary Club kids a Google form so they were able to give her some feedback, and even request some different foods they might want to make at future meetings. At their December meeting, Anderson and the kids put their baking skills to the test to create some fun and delicious holiday cookies.
“At our first meeting one of the members was like, ‘We should do [the meetings] every week’, and you know, budget wise, we would have to do a lot more fundraising to cook that often,” Anderson said.
The club meetings take place once a month due to budgeting, with hopes that with more fundraising, the club could take place more often.
There is one person missing in all of this. Club adviser Shannon Shurtleff was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. Immediately after Shurtleff’s diagnosis, LHS’s culinary classes were hard at work to raise money for her medical expenses.
“It makes me feel proud to do something for a good cause to help out a teacher,” junior Chris Macpherson said.
The culinary classes were able to raise over $750 to support Shurtleff.
“I know it’s hard to have someone sick with Cancer. Money can be hard with medical costs, but emotionally people are struggling because they’re stressing about their loved one,” junior Ethan Munroe said, “This helps the family know people are there for them and they’re not alone.”
