Chef Brian Potter brought a necessary program and group of skills back to the Mt. Healthy City School District, teaching students how to cook. This introductory class simply teaches the 90 students in the six classes the basics of cooking in their own kitchens. The class walks them through safety in the kitchen, sanitary methods, and how to prepare meals for themselves and their families. It also teaches the students how to read recipes and measure the ingredients for the meals. Students are learning a number of breakfast, lunch, dinner, side dish, and dessert recipes during this semester-long class. In addition to book work the students complete in Google Classroom, Chef Potter also requires them to complete labs where they make the meals. He provides them with videos they watch of him making the meal to help them follow the recipes and measure correctly. “The class helps the students build confidence in their ability to cook,” stated Chef Potter. “It helps to teach basic cooking skills that the students can use throughout their entire life.” Following the completion of the meal, students complete an evaluation of themselves and reflection questions on their meal preparation. Several students commented about what they love about the cooking class. “What I like the most about this cooking class is that we get to experiment with recipes hands-on. I also like how we have the choice to add whatever we want,” said Jabrille Dennis. Mia Hayes explained, “I like cooking class because I learn how to cook things I’ve never heard about and how to cook things I see other people cook.”
In addition to the Cooking I class, preparations are in the works for future classes including two Cooking in the Industry pathways where students would choose either Baking and Pastry or Savory Culinary classes all four years of high school. The hope is that Mt. Healthy City School District could provide industry credentialed and alternate pathways to graduation with these classes. “More advanced classes will teach students how to properly cook for a restaurant or other commercial food setting. Industry credentials allow a student to show off what they have learned to a potential employer during an interview,” explained Chef Potter. The district grant writing team is in the process of writing grants that would be used to offer these classes. Chef Potter also intends to offer a cooking competition extracurricular after school that would allow students to compete in the American Culinary Federation Culinary Competition at Cincinnati State University in the Spring.
Chef Potter is a Certified Executive Chef and Certified Working Pastry Chef from the American Culinary Federation in addition to a Certified Dietary Manager with the Association of Nutrition & Foodservice Professionals. Furthermore, he is a Master Chef honored by the World Master Chef Society, a leading global honors society for exceptionally skilled professional chefs with over 150 members across 11 international chapters. The society recognizes the quality of its members and awards the title of World Master Chef, a unique recognition benchmark.