The Board of Education has reintroduced Culinary Arts at Hawthorne High School for the 2013-2014 school year.

Culinary Arts (previously called “Foods”) was removed from the high school curriculum in 2009. The new and updated version of this class is very different from the previous Foods class.  In Culinary Arts, the students are not focusing only on cooking and baking, but also on how to prepare their ingredients from scratch and how to understand the business aspect of the food and restaurant industry.

The new teacher of Culinary Arts, Cynthia Dockray, said, “So far I think the class is going great. I have heard many positive things from both the students and the parents, and my current students seem to be enjoying our class.”

One goal of this class is to teach students the basics of reading and preparing recipes. Even if the students in the current Culinary Arts class do not want to pursue a career in the food business, Dockray hopes to teach them many important life skills. As this class moves forward, Dockray plans to continue with Culinary Arts I, and she also hopes to be able to expand the course, possibly offering a Culinary Arts II class next year.

Scott Miele, junior at HHS, stated, “Culinary is one of my favorite classes this year since it directly involves cooking and eating.”