Foodservice and Community
Culinary Arts Education for High School Students
Serving within a community goes beyond just showing up to work, as demonstrated by our teams in Texas who are building community skillsets by teaching Culinary Arts programs for students of Grapevine and Colleyville High Schools. Led by our Foodservice Director and Chef, Taani Maama, this remarkable culinary team has plans of expanding educational offerings to also include the local Boys and Girl’s Club of Fort Worth, TX to ensure children from all backgrounds are able to learn about cooking, wellness, and nutrition.
The culinary programs offered to Grapevine and Colleyville High Schools are structured, credited classes held twice weekly that incrementally build each student’s cooking acumen until the student is ready for advanced classes that offer exciting opportunities like attending culinary competitions such as the National ProStart Invitational; the country’s premier secondary school competition focused on restaurant management and culinary arts. Taani Maama leads the program and has been teaching culinary arts in many capacities since 2015. In addition to leading an exceptional dining team in service to Senior Living, Taani found that capturing the attention of teens through dining was an enriching experience for everyone and ultimately resulted in employable skills for the kids as they near graduation. Currently, Taani teaches 46 students in his culinary program. The students will gain culinary skills while learning to locally source ingredients, use ingredients seasonally, and create nutritious and flavorful meals that will encourage their lifelong journey toward wellness.
Taani reports the students have a strong interest in the art of building connection through food, especially as their culinary skills grow, which, as many professional Chefs know, is one of the many rewarding aspects of being a Culinarian. We are pleased to follow along this journey of high school culinary education with Taani and his students and look forward to the results of the National ProStart Invitational culinary competition which should be available in Spring of 2023.
