Schools

Students Learn About Business By Playing With Their Food

Belmont Ridge Middle School Students visited the National Conference Center for hospitality training this week

On Tuesday afternoon, 25 eighth graders from could go home bragging to their parents that they played with their food.

The National Conference Center hosted a hospitality training program for students at the school, who learned a little math in addition, while Executive Chef Craig Mason walked them through keeping the right food cost to profit ratio.

After the students had a short lesson on dessert creation and presentation from Mason, the students broke into teams of two and made their own pastries.

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The students were among 137 who signed up to participate in the program this year, according to Giao Dang, eighth grade dean at Belmont Ridge. She said students have participated in the program since 2003, through a business partnership with NCC.

Students enjoyed the process of creating desserts.

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Joshua,14, said he hoped to pursue a career in doing just that. “I’d like to be a pastry chef,” he said.

Robert, 14, said his ambition was to be a chef, with the best food, pastries and drinks — when pressed about what kind of “drinks,” he said these would be soda and juices — and “especially the best desserts in town.”

Mason then judged the finished creations, and Meloryn and Blair, both 14, were deemed the winners because their work was subtlest, and most likely to survive a trip from the kitchen to the guests.

Both girls said they learned a lot about presenting food, and it effect on enjoyment of a meal.

“There’s a lot of things you can do with food … It’s harder than it seems,” Meloryn said.

 

Editor’s note: Students are identified by first name and age only, at the request of Giao Dang, who said the school had not cleared permission with the children’s parents to give both names. Normally, all students would be identified by first and last name.


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