Teamwork makes success at Job Corps culinary program

Students anticipate food industry jobs upon graduating

MOSES LAKE — Baking 500 potatoes for the annual Washington State Potato Conference or 300 cookies for community luncheons is all part of a day's work for Columbia Basin Job Corps culinary art students.

Two students, called crew chiefs, are in charge of preparing food menus and delegating tasks to other students.

Eighteen-year-old crew chief Grant Crabill likens the chaos that goes on in the kitchen at Job Corps to chickens running around with their heads cut off.

Crabill is one of 22 culinary art students enrolled at the Moses Lake Job Corps site. Originally from Olympia, Crabill decided college was not for him and wanted to train for a job where he could work behind the scenes.

Culinary arts is one of 11 trades offered at CBJC.

Students gain hands-on experience through work-based learning where they are paired with a business to acquire skills in their trade. They can also get that experience on the Job Corps campus through on-site projects.

Many of the students who go through the culinary arts program accept jobs in the restaurant and hotel industries. Culinary arts instructor at CBJC Theresa Clement has a former student who is now the head chef at an Olive Garden Restaurant.

"They are job ready when they leave here," Clement said.

When students enroll, the first three months of the program focus on food safety and handling.

From there they learn more specific cooking techniques for preparing meals.

One such technique Clement uses is to have students practice flipping salt in a pan with a spatula before they move on to flipping eggs and pancakes.

That way food is not wasted, Clement said.

In the 10 years Clement has worked in the culinary arts program at Job Corps, she has noticed a dramatic difference in the quality of students in her program.

Clement is seeing more students come to Job Corps because they want to find a career path and progress in that field, rather than coming because they have no where else to go.

For a long time the perception of Job Corps was that it was a place for those to come who couldn't make it anywhere else and that is changing, Clement said.

Nineteen-year-old Jessica French-Wyhet graduates in February. She will be looking for a job at a vegan restaurant in the Seattle area.

French-Wyhet has heard the food industry is quite competitive.

"Know what you're doing because there's always going to be someone better," she said.

Classmate Brennan Pierce has been working on his cutlery skills. Learning to work well with people is a valuable skill he will take with him from his Job Corps experience.

"You have to be part of the team or you don't get anything done," Pierce said of preparing food in mass amounts. "It's non stop."

The ambition of her students is what keeps Clement enthused about her job. She has dreams of one day opening a restaurant on site at Job Corps, but right now has no definite plans for that.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the kids," Clement said.