This episode explores Harrisburg's Culinary Arts program, its impact on students, and their transitions into post-secondary culinary education. The episode includes insights from culinary arts instructor Mrs. Deb Rombough and stories from former students, Alex Clark and Lexi Rausch, about their experiences in culinary school after graduating from Harrisburg.
This episode explores Harrisburg's Culinary Arts program, its impact on students, and their transitions into post-secondary culinary education. The episode includes insights from culinary arts instructor Mrs. Deb Rombough and stories from former students, Alex Clark and Lexi Rausch, about their experiences in culinary school after graduating from Harrisburg.
Transcript
00:00:03 VerMulm
We're giving you more than just the 411. This is the Harrisburg 412 podcast coming to you from Southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, SD.
00:00:21 Lynch
All right, welcome back 412 listeners. I am here with Mrs. Deb Rombough, our culinary arts instructor, celebrating success stories for CTE month. You will hear from Alex and Lexie shortly about their experiences in culinary school and how the HHS Culinary Arts program has helped them flourish as they embark upon their career.
00:00:41 Lynch
Journeys. Thanks for coming today, Mrs. Rombough.
00:00:44 Rombough
Thanks for having.
00:00:44 Lynch
Me. So we're just going to talk briefly about your program to give people some background and context before they hear Alex and Lexie stories sound good. Sounds great. All right, so you've been in the beautiful culinary arts space since about the fall of 2019. Correct? Correct. So before that, let's give people just a little bit of a historical journey. When you came into the district.
00:01:04 Lynch
About 7-8 years ago, what did culinary arts education look like at that?
00:01:08 Rombough
Point. So this is actually my 10th year at Harrisburg. We my.
00:01:13 Rombough
6th full time at the high school. We did not initially have a culinary arts industrial space. We basically were in a residential kitchen that we used for our other programs like Nutrition and Wellness and introductory courses to foods. So when Doctor Amolins approached me about starting a culinary program.
00:01:36 Rombough
In hospitality tourism, I was really excited. We did start in that residential space, but the transition to what we have now has been a game changer. It's everything that a student is going.
00:01:48 Rombough
And see when they go out and work in the industry and actually more. I mean we we have a wonderful setup here. And so when they leave, I feel like they really are ready to to see and tackle all of those.
00:02:02 Lynch
Things absolutely. So you've continued to grow the program. So we started with, you know, a dozen or so students that were interested.
00:02:08 Lynch
And now tell our listeners how many students do you have in culinary one? And what does CTE culinary arts curriculum look like for next?
00:02:17 Rombough
Year so level 1 Max is out at about 85 students and we're typically at that stage.
00:02:24 Rombough
And then we also have currently we have a culinary 2 class which caps at 18. So it's always standing room only, like kids are really interested in the program.
00:02:34 Lynch
You're the wait list.
00:02:34 Rombough
Lady. Yeah, we are making some changes for next year. So I'm really excited about our culinary one class will only be a semester.
00:02:44 Rombough
Requirement which will be their prerequisite to take any other future hospitality and tourism course in culinary arts so it'll look a lot like all of their other classes and a little bit easier for our students to understand, and I think also manage in their schedules. So we're really excited. So we will be able to offer then more specific skill set classes such as baking and pastry. We're looking at a taste of culture course where we'll look at international cuisine and they will get experience in preparing that and looking at different cultures. We have then like a basically another a stem off of Culinary 2, which will be all of those advanced things after they've taken that prerequisite course. And so yeah, we just have lots of exciting things happening and coming and then an opportunity for our Level 3 students to be independent chefs. And I really encourage them to have their serve safe manager certification which they can all get in culinary one and they'll continue to be able to get that in that prerequisite class and then they have a lot of autonomy to help with the CTE roar store, to work with catering opportunities that we have in Pro start and our classes and just experiment and kind of see if they're really interested in the baking aspect. Then I kind of let them jump in and practice some of those skills. So it kind of depends on what their interest level is at that point.
00:04:15 Lynch
Yeah, that's fantastic. So we're going to hear, like I said from Alex and Lexie a little bit about their experiences in culinary school, but they both spoke about the importance of just the opportunities and the experiences they've been able to have in.
00:04:29 Lynch
Harrisburg Culinary Arts program they talked about the catering experiences and they talked about being able to go to the state Pro Start competition and the competition in Minnesota as well. So can you share with our listeners maybe a little bit what what's pro start, what does that competition entail? And then maybe elaborate a little bit.
00:04:49 Lynch
On the importance of being able to obtain a credential or a certificate before going out into industry.
00:04:56 Rombough
OK, so Pro start is our career and technical student organization for hospital and tourism for our culinary arts program. So much like you're aware of like FA is for your age based classes, so.
00:05:09 Rombough
One thing every student in my class is a member of Pro Start and so with that they're able to go and compete in a variety of different things. Our state Pro Start competition, which is held in here in March. There's actually three different divisions. There's a culinary.
00:05:30 Rombough
Where they have 60 minutes to prepare a a basically a full course meal with no electricity.
00:05:38 Rombough
And then they are judged on their knife cuts, their food safety team, teamwork, all of those things. Yep. Life, basically.
00:05:42 Lynch
Alert communication presentation. It's crazy people.
00:05:46 Lynch
You have. If you ever get a chance to go the crazy lady that I am, I got to go last year and watch our culinarians at work. And I was standing on chairs taking pictures and when the timer is counting down and there has to be food.
00:06:00 Lynch
On the plate and kids are yelling. Yes, chef. No chef at each other so that they're ready for judging, I about fell off a chair, so it's really exciting. It's just like watching a football game, you know, on the goal line, 4th and one trying to score at the end of the game it there's that much excitement in that room for all of those programs. So it's it's really high energy stuff.
00:06:22 Rombough
It’s really fun. And these students put so much time and effort in practicing that to be able to have those skills to a level where they know that they can have confidently put that food on that plate and the critiques are difficult, like professional chefs from all over the state come to judge that and they do not hold back like they expect a very high level. So there's also a management team which basically focuses on starting they they basically have to plan a some type of food operation. It might be a food truck business, it might be a brick and mortar and this is Harrisburg's first year having a management team, so I'm really excited about that. And then the state also offers a cake decorating opportunity for our students so last year we went to the Schwan's culinary competition in Marshall, MN held on the campus there and that was an amazing opportunity. Students participated in all different levels. There was culinary, knife cuts, menu design, cake decorating, you name it. So that was really fun.
00:07:31 Lynch
And just like really cool breakouts and workshops and things.
00:07:34 Rombough
Yes, they got to attend lots of different workshops with professionals teaching them about.
00:07:38 Lynch
Made Beignets
00:07:39 Rombough
Beignets and we had brick pizzas like pizzas and. Yeah, yeah, it was.
00:07:44 Lynch
Ohh yeah, pizza the outside. It was cold, but we made pizzas on the smoker.
00:07:48 Lynch
And a touch of Asian cuisine that day as well.
00:07:52 Rombough
And we were the actually the only South Dakota school there. And we're planning on attending that again. That's in April, yes.
00:07:57 Lynch
Yeah. So just a great experience to be able to captivate, you know, and excite those kids that have that interest, but bring them into a I mean, there was 300 kids.
00:08:07 Rombough
There for sure, and there's individual events. There's team events. Eventually we'd like to, I'd like to host something like that here eventually.
00:08:14 Lynch
Game on. Let's do it.
00:08:16 Lynch
Sounds good. Those are amazing things. So let's talk about maybe local partnerships before we get to Alex and Lexi's stories. You were able to participate as a precursor to the downtown Sioux Falls Burger Battle. How did that whole thing come about?
00:08:31 Rombough
Yeah, that was amazing. So when industry comes to you and says, hey, we want you to be a part of something you don't say no, even if it's gingerbread building time. So we jumped in and along with the CTE Academy, we were able to work with Crave and they just they were amazing. They came in and talked to our students about what the downtown burger is our kids were in teams. They designed a burger and then they picked a winner from each school and then an overall winner, and that that was the CTE Academy. So they are on the January menu at Crave and also a part of the downtown burger battle. And then our students will be featured our winner will be featured on the February Crave menu, and with that too, they invite those students back to like just kind of make that burger battle right? Better so to kind of just bring it up a level, elevate it, yes. So they when they judged them, they came in, they did all the judging, they awarded some amazing prizes for our students. So it just anytime our students get to be judged by individuals that are in the industry doing this.
00:09:30 Lynch
Elevate it to their standards. Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:46 Rombough
Every day as their profession, it just brings it to another level and our kids were very competitive and did amazing and we're super pumped about it.
00:09:56 Lynch
Yeah, every day they kept coming in and saying, Mrs. Rombough, do we have results? Do we have results? So yeah, the timing of that was really exciting, although very busy for you working on Gingerbread houses as a culminating project and culinary one. And just the busy time of the holidays and getting ready for Winter break, but stay tuned podcast listeners because we will officially announce the students who are the Harrisburg champions in February and will give you all the details on going down to crave and making sure that you can purchase that burger and try it out. So I hope to collaborate with Crave and other business and industry partners more in the future.
00:10:30 Lynch
I do think before we wrap up, we should give a shout out to South Dakota retailers and Sienna. So if you want to share a little bit about how the South Dakota retailers help support ProStart.
00:10:34 Rombough
For sure.
00:10:40 Rombough
So in South Dakota, our overseeing body basically is the South Dakota Retailers Association. So Sienna is our representative, our liaison through that organization. So she helps provide us as Pro start educators with the the competition, the state competition that's held in peer.
00:11:00 Rombough
Grants other opportunities, for example. That's how we found out about the Minnesota competition. So always trying to just help our students elevate their learning. The state Pro start sponsors the state Gingerbread House competition.
00:11:17 Rombough
Which is held in December. And so we like to participate in that every year. So that's exciting and that's all brought through that organization.
00:11:26 Lynch
Yeah, it's fantastic. And Mrs. Rombough's not gonna bring it up on her own, but due to our pro * affiliation, and South Dakota Reese Taylors support, you were honored with an award.
00:11:36 Rombough
This summer I was I got to go to Dallas and receive my our state award, which was for I was recognized for Educator of Excellence in South Dakota.
00:11:47 Rombough
And then went on in the industry connection category to win that national award. So very shocking. Clap, clap, clap. Thank you.
00:11:57 Lynch
So yeah, the National Pro * educator of the Year for Industry Partnerships, right?
00:12:02 Rombough
Yes, yes. And so that has been amazing. So national Pro Start has reached out and I've gotten to do some cool collaborations because of that like talked to the Coca-Cola representatives and some of those national sponsors for Pro Start and just how to make things better for our kids and for our team.
00:12:21 Rombough
Features. So it's been really.
00:12:23 Lynch
Fun yeah. Anytime you can turn it around and it benefits learners directly in your classrooms. Awesome. But when you can support teachers, too, I think that's huge. You've been in this profession for a few years. Time. Yeah. So when you can, you know, share all of the experience and try to make your profession better for the people that are in the trenches every day with you. And that's meaningful.
00:12:41 Rombough
Yeah, it was amazing. I had time to collaborate with some of those individuals who are doing like just outstanding things around the country. And so that makes us all better teachers.
00:12:54 Rombough
But so yeah, South Dakota retailers is awesome. They make those our kids love competition. So all of you like industry people out there bring it talk to us. We're game those states.
00:13:05 Lynch
Mrs. Rombough doesn't say no to many things so.
00:13:08 Lynch
Those bring it to us. We'll do it.
00:13:10 Rombough
State competitions again, allow our students to get exposure and elevate. Lexi was a two time winner in the South Dakota Pro start gingerbread competition so that also helped afford her some additional scholarship money to her.
00:13:27 Rombough
Her culinary training that she's doing now and then we were able to bring that trophy home again this year at our school.
00:13:35 Lynch
Final thoughts. What do you want to say to our listeners? Whether it's learners, parents, community stakeholders, partners.
00:13:45 Rombough
I just think if you're not sure about what we're doing here at Harrisburg High School, especially in our career and technical.
00:13:52 Rombough
Programs, I think we're kind of or we were kind of a best kept secret in all of our areas. We're out there, my kids are out doing learner interest days. We do some small catering opportunities here at school doing internships.
00:14:06 Lynch
Working in industry.
00:14:07 Rombough
Volunteering. Yeah, so we, my students, really. All of our students work really hard every day, and they have some amazing experiences that they're able to take out into that real world experience.
00:14:21 Lynch
Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us, Mrs. Rombough, and we are going to kick it over to our conversation with Lexi and Alex.
Welcome back to the 412 podcast today we are going to dive into life after HHS celebrating our culinary arts program. We have two lovely HHS graduates, 2023 graduates with us. So today I have Lexi and Alex - thanks for being here, ladies. So we're going to start off really easy. Please tell us the program you're in and what has been the most enjoyable part of transitioning from high school to your post secondary program.
00:15:02 Rausch
So I am currently currently enrolled in the baking and pastry program at Augusta Escoffier School of the Culinary Arts and at Boulder, Co.
00:15:14 Rausch
High School was a very like, different like you got to dip your feet into the water. You got to test different things out. We were given a lot of freedom to play around with different techniques and recipes and just kind of see we were given challenges for different events to kind of play around with and try out, see what would work.
00:15:35 Rausch
And kind of get some of that one to one customer experience.
00:15:40 Rausch
And now that I'm in culinary school, it's a very different kind of game or beast. So for us, when I am in a kitchen block.
00:15:53 Rausch
I am doing about an hour of lecture.
00:15:57 Rausch
In the morning and then I go into lab and then we have about 3 1/2 hours to do production for the day. So usually we're paired up in teams, usually teams of two. If the class is big enough, sometimes it's teams of three.
00:16:12 Rausch
And we have 3 1/2 hours to get anywhere between 4:00 to 5:00 to six different products made in that time between you and your partner. So you write out a production sheet which we kind of got a little dip into or I got a little bit dip into in high school.
00:16:32 Rausch
And then we go on to do the production for the day, splitting it all up.
00:16:38 Rausch
Really learn like how to kind of analyze recipes from high school and kind of translated that into.
00:16:46 Rausch
The post secondary education it just.
00:16:51 Rausch
You kind of have a lot more get up and go. You know, you have a time limit. You have to get things done. Sometimes you have to get things done and cooled.
00:17:00 Rausch
And it's just go, go, go. You don't really take breaks. It's definitely what you would expect to be seen and done in industry. So going from high school, where it was just kind of a little bit laid back, dip your toes into it, see if you like it. Culinary schools kind of like this is actually how this works.
00:17:22 Rausch
This is how we're going to do it. If you can't keep up.
00:17:26 Rausch
Your grades, you know, kind of reflect it.
00:17:29 Lynch
That's great. Alex, what's your program like? And maybe explain that transition from a high school program to a post secondary program?
00:17:37 Clark
So the post secondary program that I'm in right now is the culinary arts program at Mitchell Tech in Mitchell, SD.
00:17:44 Clark
And the transition between high school and culinary school was a little drastic because, again, like Lexie said, high school is a chance like explore different career paths and check out different opportunities and see, like, what career would fit you best. But when you get to like a post secondary school and you're diving deep into that program.
00:18:05 Clark
There's more pressure, there's more expectations. I think the strangest part of the transition was back in high school, I was used to like being in charge, if that makes sense, like helping out with leading classes, helping with planning and helping execute like these big events. Like Lexie was saying and going to college, where you have to step back.
00:18:25 Clark
And yes, Sir. No, Sir. OK, Sir.
00:18:28 Clark
And he's.
00:18:28 Clark
Go through. Do what you're told. So it's really weird going from being in charge to like following someone else.
00:18:37 Lynch
Do you feel that's true of your program as well?
00:18:38 Lynch
Lexi a little.
00:18:40 Rausch
Bit, but not as much. I've always had a very and it's probably my personality. I've always had a very kind of go with it. Figure it out, figure out how everything goes. I'm often very quiet and analyzing everything before I get to talking.
00:18:57 Rausch
Were kind of starting to share my ideas. My first two blogs so kind of to preface a block for me is a six week time period and we flip flop at my school. So you either do six weeks of general education so you're in a classroom for about four hours a day.
00:19:16 Lynch
Or you're in a kitchen block and you're in the kitchen doing production five days a week for six weeks. So it's a different format. So therefore practicing some different skill sets along the way. Awesome. You've talked a little bit about the format of class. What is the format of the Mitchell Tech program, Alex?
00:19:34 Clark
So at Mitchell Tech, we have the first years and the second years, the first years, they're usually in kitchen by about 9:00 AM the first semester and then we spend from 9:00 AM to I think.
00:19:48 Clark
Just about 10:45 eleven and we're doing the quantity production where we basically cooked for the entire school, the staff, the students, everyone. We also have the oak room, which the second year's work from 8:00 to 11:00. So they're there earlier.
00:20:06 Clark
And then we stay there until about 1:15. One thirty while we're cleaning up, doing dishes, breaking down the kitchen, and then we have electric classes from about.
00:20:18 Clark
1:30 to almost 4:00 next semester it'll be 830 where the first years got to be there and we'll probably get out like 45430. So they're extending our days by quite a bit.
00:20:30 Lynch
You said the oak room. What's the oak room?
00:20:33 Clark
So the oak Room is a fine dining experience at Mitchell Tech, where people can call in, make reservations, and the second years will actually like have the experience of like a real kitchen where they'll be getting tickets and the first years we'll be doing like server duties.
00:20:49 Clark
And the second years will go through and they'll make the meals. They'll go like through a sous chef, get the experience of like a real kitchen, a real rush with real customers that can call in. They do events there. I've helped serve at a couple. And it was a lot of fun. Got to get to see the different people that come through. And just, like, see how the community reflects on our program.
00:21:08 Lynch
So what's the size of the oak room?
00:21:09 Lynch
Am I making fifty meals? Am I making 500 meals?
00:21:12 Lynch
What's the scope?
00:21:13 Clark
So currently the oak room can hold about 30-40.
00:21:18 Clark
People. So it's definitely a smaller establishment, which is really nice in a learning environment because it's not like super intense pressure. There's a whole bunch.
00:21:26 Clark
To do manage.
00:21:27 Clark
It's more manageable. There's the.
00:21:28 Lynch
Word so you both have the opportunity to become ServSafe certified through the High school Pro Start program. What certifications do you currently have and was that?
00:21:38 Lynch
Helpful at before you jumped into your post secondary programs.
00:21:42 Rausch
I currently am still certified in ServSafe. I also have my state food safety for the state of Colorado as well as a work ethic proficiency certificate that I also had in high school.
00:21:57 Lynch
How about you?
00:21:58 Clark
Alex, so currently I am ServSafe manager certified and then I just recently got my first aid certification and then I went and got a CPR certification and then soon probably during the summer I'll be going and taking some EMT courses and get certified as an EMT.
00:22:17 Clark
Cause good skill set to have a case of emergencies cause in the kitchen there can be like a lot of accidents like cut slips, falls. So having like that extra skill set in advanced and preparing myself for it. So I'd rather be prepared and emerge to not happen than be unprepared and have an emergency happen.
00:22:36 Lynch
Yeah, I think that cross training is a really great.
00:22:38 Lynch
Example of all the different career and technical education, certifications and skills.
00:22:42 Lynch
Now, Alex, you have superior knife skills because you want awards in high school. You want to share a little bit about those accolades and you know, has that translated well for you into?
00:22:50 Clark
Your program so I am.
00:22:53 Clark
I won knife skills in Minnesota, cause Miss Rombough took us to a competition up there and then I won knife skills in South Dakota.
00:23:03 Clark
And that was a lot of fun and just having like that base knowledge of like how to hold the knife parts of the knife, how to handle your knives, safety with your knives, sharpening them.
00:23:13 Clark
General upkeep in care and knowing how to do your cuts beforehand definitely gave me a leg up when I went to college because some of the kids that are there like they're just getting into it. So having like that background and experiences in high school definitely helped me out and gave.
00:23:26 Lynch
Me a leg up? Yes. You guys have your state-of-the-art CTE kitchen at Harrisburg. So we're very fortunate with the expansion of the career and technical education.
00:23:34 Lynch
Programs. How has that helped you or what's kind of the difference? Maybe talking about your peers that you see in your programs, did they have the similar opportunities in high school or are they coming from more of a residential style fax program?
00:23:49 Clark
So having the CTE kitchen at Harrisburg is honestly a huge blessing and just being able to get so deep into the program well, just in high school has been an incredible opportunity because when I transferred from the Sioux Falls District to the Harrisburg District, I didn't know what was going to happen and I couldn't go to the CTE Academy.
00:24:09 Clark
It was too far and so I'm like, well, let me try this. And when I got into the CTE room for Miss Rombough and I was like, blown away.
00:24:17 Clark
Like all the equipment that we get to use and all the catering opportunities that we have and meeting new people, getting out into the Community, doing the learning interest days like just all of that and it translates really well into college because you learn your customer service, how to make business connections, how to get sponsors.
00:24:37 Clark
And it's honestly all I can really say is it's been an amazing opportunity to be able to work there.
00:24:46 Rausch
I would say the same thing. It was an amazing like experience to be able to have all of this like industry grade equipment and everything. A lot of my classmates my age, some had culinary programs, some had a technical school that went through with their school so that they could go take classes.
00:25:07 Rausch
There and then some of my older classmates actually never ever had a fax class. They just over the years they had, like, a passion for baking and eventually decided to.
00:25:19 Rausch
Go to school for it, but depending on where you are globally or nationally, I should say.
00:25:27 Rausch
There really aren't facts programs. There aren't home EQ programs a lot anymore. So.
00:25:31 Lynch
Yeah. And I think it's nice to have as much space as we do in the high school culinary arts facility simply because we're, you're still high school kids at that time learning, right? So for safety alone, it's nice to have that space. But I think you make a really good point know.
00:25:44 Lynch
Thing that the industry grade equipment is the same, but every single work environment that you go into, you're going to have to modify your skills and your work process and the flow of how you're interacting with your coworkers. What do you think has been your greatest challenge, at least with the coursework aspect of your program?
00:26:03 Clark
Probably the biggest challenge.
00:26:04 Clark
For me, is like taking the time to actually step back and like focus on reading something.
00:26:13 Clark
Books are hard, especially when you can't sit still for very long because you got like, be up and moving and using your hands and like getting in there and like taking a step back, having to sit down, read a book, take notes like the monotonous aspects of it are a little difficult for me because I like going hands in. I like getting dirty and messy with it. I like.
00:26:33 Clark
Having fun with it?
00:26:37 Rausch
For me, on our classroom days, it definitely can. Sometimes silly become death by PowerPoint. As for the kitchen, I think it would probably be just making sure everything's in line. Everything's in order. You're taking notes while Chef is demoing, you are listening for the call outs he's giving to try to keep on track.
00:26:58 Rausch
Needing to keep track of what's in this oven and how long something else has, and then you're also back in dish pit doing all of your dishes for the next group. So it's.
00:27:10 Rausch
Just kind of trying to find that balance between all of the work keeping things that are important at the forefront and kind of balancing out how to listen while you work while you help your other teammates. It's kind of figuring out that balancing act of that.
00:27:31 Rausch
Multitasking that is very infamous and will probably never leave in the culinary industry.
00:27:37 Lynch
Yeah, we're super fortunate that both of you were able to join us on your break here. Your winter break before you jump back into your second semester of your first year programs. So thanks for being with us today. What advice or tips do you have for those students that maybe are in just culinary one right now with the high school? You know, if they're thinking, hey, this was fun.
00:27:59 Lynch
Maybe I want to do this. What would you like to share with those people?
00:28:03 Clark
So some advice that I would have for like those people who are just starting to dip themselves into culinary arts.
00:28:10 Clark
Take the initiative like go out and find opportunities to expand your skills. Take the time to listen to what people have to say like hey, I know a better way to do this or hey, I can show you something and works a little better.
00:28:24 Rausch
I think this could be said about a lot of different programs, but especially culinary be moldable, be flexible, be like a river, be willing to take it wherever it leads you, and if you're really into it like Alex said, take the initiative, take the next step.
00:28:40 Rausch
If you have the time and it's something that you can afford to do, whether it's.
00:28:46 Rausch
You're willing to give up family time or whatever, but possibly like, go actually get a job out in the industry.
00:28:53 Lynch
And with that, we hope you were able to get a clear insight in what it's like to be a culinary arts learner in a post secondary program. We're truly grateful for our guests and hope you continue to listen to the other episodes in our CTE month celebration.