VHS CTE Culinary pathway provides students with academic and real life skills]
As one of VHS’ Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways, the Food Service and Hospitality track offers three consecutive classes for students interested in food service careers. In chronological order, the culinary classes include the CTE Intro Culinary & Hospitality, CTE Con Culinary & Hospitality and CTE Cap Culinary & Hospitality. These classes include hands-on cooking labs, experience, field trips and possible internships. The completed pathway provides students with a strong start in the culinary industry, and a graduation cord that comes from completing a CTE pathway at VHS. Not only is it possible for students to gain experience that can be used in future business, education or career goals, but culinary classes also provide instructions, safety precautions and recipes that can be used in everyday life.
The other CTE pathways offered at VHS include Information Technology, Robotics, Patient Care, Environmental Resources, Residential and Commercial Construction, Automotive, Agriculture Business, and Welding and Materials Joining. Each pathway offers unique opportunities such as hands-on experience and internships that all support the future aspirations of any student participating in them.
Kiara Krempel-Miller ‘25, Chyna Wong Wui ‘25 and Isabella Coleman ‘25 are all students in the CTE Intro course. Coleman said, “I really like culinary class. I don’t want to be a chef in the future, but it’s helpful to learn recipes for when I’m an adult.”
Wong Wui said, “Culinary is my favorite class, it’s really enjoyable.” According to venturausd.org, classroom activities involve weekly cooking labs, menu and recipe creation, industry internships, field trips to local farms and more.
Krempel-Miller ‘25 said, “Culinary is super fun and the food is always delicious. I’ve definitely learned great skills in the kitchen and it’s been super helpful with cooking meals at home.”
The CTE Culinary & Hospitality pathway is three courses long. Students typically start with the introduction classes as a sophomore, and are completed with the capstone — the final class in the series — by their senior year. Dishes such as sushi, pizza, desserts, sautees and more are made in culinary class labs.
Another aspect to the Culinary and other CTE pathways are the specialized assignments and opportunities that come without the stress and burden often associated with higher placement classes such as AP. AP classes often have a structure built around an exam at the end of the year. CTE classes do not have an AP exam to work toward. This can be a benefit to students who can be overwhelmed by large amounts of homework and stress, but still want to work towards a specialized goal.
