Welcome to learning
Have you ever wondered what a high school culinary arts classroom looks like? Here is your chance to tour Humphreys High School's culinary arts classrooms. That's right, we have more than one. In fact, our culinary students have four learning spaces--a traditional classroom, a hospitality dining room and event space (The Nest), a prep kitchen with locker rooms, and a fully equipped commercial kitchen. Additional information about the special features of our program are included under each area.
LEARNING SPACE 1
Traditional Classroom
This classroom is where students receive direct instruction, work on group projects, engage with online curriculum materials, and plan hands-on learning activities. Class sizes are kept small to allow for hands-on learning with supervision. Most classes have between 16 and 18 students.
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Professional Work Ethic Awards
Each quarter students are selected from every class for demonstrating an exemplary professional work ethic in at least one area.
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Rotating Schedule
Our school operates on a seven-day rotating schedule. This gives students the opportunity to engage with teachers, peers, and content at different times of the day throughout the year. The schedule also benefits the large number of student athletes who miss afternoon classes due to team travel to games.
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Teacher-Student Communication
As students enter the classroom, the plan for each day is displayed to orient them to what they will be learning and doing for the week ahead. Course competencies are displayed along with activities to link activities to learning objectives.
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Online Curriculum
Our cutting edge culinary arts curriculum, Rouxbe.com, also provides major hotels and foodservice companies with training for their professional chefs and cooks. It features videos with multi-lingual support, pre- and post-tests, auto-graded practice quizzes with feedback, and preparation and testing for industry-standard culinary credentials. First year students earn the World Food Safety Organization (WFSO) Safe Food Handler credential and the Essentials of Food Hygiene credential. Second year students prepare for and take the WFSO Food Protection Manager exam.
LEARNING SPACE 2
The Nest Hospitality Dining Room & Event Space
The Nest provides students with front-of-the-house service skill development opportunities through catered events and collaborative learning activities with other departments. The dining room seats up to 50 people.
LEARNING SPACE 3
Prep Kitchen
The prep kitchen is a dedicated area for mise en place (preparations prior to cooking), including baking and knife skill production. Recognitions for the industry credentials earned by each student are displayed on the bulletin boards in this area.
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Student Groupings and Task Communication
As students enter the prep kitchen, they visit their class lab board to form teams, or find their assigned groups for the day's lab activity. Classes and teams are color coded to assist students in locating their class and team spaces in the kitchens.
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Locker Rooms
Gender-neutral locker rooms store school-issued uniforms in designated areas, reducing dress-out time for labs. The transition takes approximately 4 minutes, including donning uniforms, covering hair, and washing hands. Efficient dress-out procedures are taught and practiced from the beginning of the school year.
LEARNING SPACE 4
Commercial Kitchen
Students learn to use commercial appliances, including an 8-burner range, portable butane burners, gas ovens, an electric convection oven, proofing cabinet, and gas grill.
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Tools and Equipment
Students are trained to use a wide variety of hand tools and equipment, as well as electric food preparation tools, including food processors, blenders, stand mixers, ice cream makers, fryers, slow cookers, and rice cookers.
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Commercial Dish Machine
Students learn to use a commercial dish machine that completes a each cycle in under 3 minutes. This ensures proper food sanitation, and helps speed the cleaning process so that lab equipment is available for every class.
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Manual Warewashing and Laundry Area
Students learn to launder kitchen linens and wash dishes by hand in an industry-standard 3-compartment sink.
Thank you for touring our learning spaces
Even students who are not enrolled in culinary arts have the opportunity to take advantage of Humphreys High School's excellent culinary facilities. Our vibrant Culinary Arts Club meets every other week. All students are invited to participate in club activities.