Danny Patch, Tylor Hanson, and Nathan Lewis cook up vegetables and chicken at Concordia Language Villages.
Indus ProStart students Danny Patch, Nathan Lewis, Tylor Hanson and Patricia Handorgan wait in line to have their meal judged by a chef at Le Cordon Bleu.
Patricia Handorgan and Danny Patch cut up vegetables for a salad as they work toward completing their meal preparation goal.
A team of four students in the Indus ProStart Level II culinary arts program traveled to Bemidji and St. Paul to participate in collaborative cooking experiences Nov. 5 and 6.
The students, Patricia Handorgan, Tylor Hanson, Nathan Lewis, and Danny Patch, visited and toured Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, then worked with Mitch Eickman, assistant food service manager, and Renata “Ray” Mockridge, the CLV German coordinator and Chinese head cook, on preparing a Chinese meal. This opportunity gave students the chance to learn to work collaboratively, to learn new skills, and to try a new style of cooking.
After enjoying a huge Chinese dinner of dim sum, General Tso’s chicken, rice, vegetables, sticky buns with bean paste, and rice cakes, students continued on to St. Paul, along with Indus ProStart instructor Lois Lewis, where they stayed overnight and attended a “Competition Boot Camp” at Le Cordon Bleu Thursday.
Training at the culinary arts college provided an opportunity to hone culinary skills used in food competitions, such as the Sysco Invitational Cookoff in February. Workshops students attended at Le Cordon Bleu included learning knife skills, how to fabricate a chicken, and how to make, plate, and present desserts.
Thursday afternoon, students were given a cooking challenge — they received a bag full of groceries and had to decide how to prepare a salad and main course collaboratively within an hour, using all ingredients and a small cook stove. Inside the bag, Indus students found a pork tenderloin, rice, watermelon, lemons, apples, carrots, spinach, and dried cranberries.
Mockridge and Eickman from Concordia Language Villages mentored them in the planning and preparation process, and when the students’ menu items were “judged” by a Le Cordon Bleu chef, he said, “If this meal was on a menu in a restaurant, I would definitely order it.”
As students returned home, they discussed how one of the “take-aways” from this trip was finding out how well they could work together to get a job done, and Lewis was also impressed with how well they did, saying, “We met our goal of gaining self-confidence and skills, and now we can more effectively plan and practice for the Sysco competition.”
From left, students utilizing weight room equipment include David Zastavsky, Trevor Moss and Mitch Tomczak.
A weekly snapshot of exciting and challenging events at Falls High School.
The physical education department at Falls High School has recently added a number of new aerobic machines to the weight room.
Treadmills, ellipticals and exercise bikes are making the facility a very popular place to be. Physical education department members Josh Koenig and Sarah Bradley report having seen immediate results. Many students are now coming in early or staying after school to use the equipment.
The hope is that this provides motivation to utilize the weight area as well. “Our goal is to have students develop a healthy routine of strength and conditioning into their daily life,” Koenig said. This equipment is the key for many students that are hesitant to lift weights; they begin on the aerobic machines and slowly incorporate other exercises into their schedule.
