Cooking It Up With
the Kent County High School
Culinary Arts Program
You'll be seeing this photo a lot in the next couple of weeks. No, it's not a casting call for "Top Chef" - at least not the television show. These are the students of the Kent County High School Culinary Arts Program, and their instructor (front and center) John Keller.
I first found out about the Program last year as part of the Taste of the Town committee (do you have your tickets yet for our 2nd Annual Taste of the Town?? Go to www.tasteofchestertown.com to purchase online or find local spots to purchase them). There was a photo of them in the Kent County News as they were heading off to a statewide competition. So this year when we started planning Taste of the Town (really, you need to go get that ticket now!) we decided the most fitting beneficiary for the event was the Kent County High School Culinary Arts Program.
Which is how we met John Keller and his terrific group of students, ranging from the 10th through 12th grade. John was my guest last week on Homegrown and Green on the radio - AM 1530 WCTR - where he told us a little about himself and his background. Having worked as a professional chef across the East Coast and in Europe, John arrived on the Shore 12 years ago as the chef at The Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels. No slacker, him.
Not only does John teach at Kent County High School, he also teaches at Chesapeake Community College, and some summer programs as well. But you can tell from talking to him that his heart lies with the Culinary Arts Program.
The Program is one of the Career Technology Pathways at the High School, providing professional-grade training to our local youth in a variety of areas. He talked about how "vo-tech" 20+ years ago was for "the kids who weren't going to make it to college, so may as well teach them a trade". Today's Pathways are vastly different, emphasizing professional career-focused skills. I hope Jack Steinmetz over at the Kent County Office of Economic Development and Cindy Genther, Executive Director of the Kent County Chamber of Commerce, caught the show and are reading this - the County's future work force and entrepreneurs and rarin' to go! And with our vibrant tourism industry and a host of inns, and restaurants ranging from casual to fine dining, it's a great fit to have local kids professionally trained for local and regional employment.
When representatives of the Taste of the Town committee first sat down and talked with John we asked him what the Program needed, and chef's uniforms were at the top of the list. Because when you're working toward being a professional, you have to act, feel and look like one and take it seriously. So thank you to Linda Dawson and PNC Bank who stepped up as Chef In Training sponsor, enabling the Program to purchase uniforms and to participate in Taste of the Town.
So last week Bob Ramsey of The Finishing Touch in downtown Chestertown took himself out to the High School and took this photo of the students in their new uniforms. You'll see it in the April 9 edition of the Kent County News. And you can meet them in person at Taste of the Town where they'll be serving up Chocolate Dipped Macaroons - YUM! - and competing for the title of Best Taste of Chestertown in the Dessert category. And Bob, being who he is, after making them take several "serious" shots, said - "Ok, now one just horsing around". Ain't life grand??
