Scottsdale Unified culinary program trains students for restaurant jobs and offers ServSafe certification

Speakers at a Scottsdale Unified School District presentation described a culinary career and technical education (CTE) program that aims to prepare high school students for work in professional kitchens and related careers.

The program teaches basic and advanced kitchen skills, gives students experience running a campus cafe during their senior year and offers an end-of-year opportunity to earn the ServSafe manager certification, presenters said.

A staff member who identified themself as part of the CTE culinary program said, "The culinary program is to get students industry ready." They said instruction begins with basic skills so "all skill levels can come in and be successful." The staff member described hands-on lessons in pastries, breads and full meals and said students learn to "recognize all that equipment, identify it, use it correctly, and seamlessly integrate into an actual restaurant."

The staff member said the district’s internship arrangement lets seniors work with instructors to run an on-campus cafe. "Students from the CTE programs including culinary can work with me during their senior year, and that is essentially them running that cafe in there," the staff member said, adding that students design the menu and serve teachers on Fridays to practice real-life service.

A student speaker described the program’s appeal: "I never thought that in high school, of all things, I could start to be a professional chef." The staff member also noted the program "allows access to more job opportunities in a realm that most kids don't normally think about, such as, like, being a chef and owning your own restaurant."

On credentials, the staff member said, "The students in this program, at the end of the year, will have the opportunity to get their ServSafe manager certification, which is a extremely difficult certification to get, but very impressive if you're going into your first restaurant job and showing that you already have that certification." They said the certification and the program's teamwork and time-management training should help students stand out to employers even if students do not pursue culinary careers.

This account is a summary of remarks given during the district presentation; no formal votes or policy actions on the program were recorded in the transcript.