But this is just the beginning.
Sablan is seeking the community’s assistance in turning their small program into a state of the art culinary classroom where students can learn and expand their talent in cooking, as he told Saipan Rotary Club members yesterday.
“We hope to really showcase the students’ talents and go beyond just cooking in the classroom,” said Sablan.
His vision of the future for the culinary arts program entails collaboration with the local businesses and hotels.
Sablan also hopes to see the formation of a type of co-op program in which the students will be able to experience hands on cooking with a restaurant environment. “There is a difference between cooking in a classroom atmosphere and in a restaurant atmosphere: in the classroom you do not feel the rush of the restaurant business,” he noted.
Getting started
The KagHS culinary arts class started this school year and according to Sablan is the, “only culinary arts program in public high schools today.”
During the first term of the school year, the program had no assigned classroom, no equipment, and no supplies.
Sablan referred to himself as a, “roaming teacher,” meaning he had a cart to put his books in and go from class to class.
“I would roll myself down to other side of the campus but my cart couldn’t take my ovens, my pots, and my pans,” he smiled.
Finally, due to the KagHS administration efforts, he was assigned to a permanent classroom. KagHS Vice Principal Leila Staffler explained that the school kick started the program due to the students’ large interest in culinary arts.
Sablan and some of his students began their project of cleaning up. A local company, JWS, assisted in painting the walls.
The classroom, now completely sanitized, contains an electric stove with a range top, a gas grill, a deep fryer, a four-door stainless steel refrigerator, a two-compartment sink, a spice rack, and to what Sablan considers to be their biggest investment — a ventilation hood.
Real talent
To date, the students have competed in the local Cooking with Colors Recipe Contest and dominated the vegetarian and main dish categories.
They also prepared food for an on-campus luncheon that took place in honor of teacher appreciation week.
Sablan takes note of the immense development and progress that the students have displayed in their works.
Although he is proud of what the classroom has become, he admits that there is still great room for improvement.
He said Guam’s JFK High School culinary arts program has a classroom “three times the size of ours which is split up into two sides: one side for academics and the other for lab work.” Sablan hopes for his classroom to become something like this.
Sablan also seeks collaboration with local restaurants and hotels in hopes of showcasing the students’ talents and bringing the cooking past the high school classroom.
