KENTWOOD, MI – A West Michigan high school has unveiled a new, $5 million culinary arts space described by school officials as a “modern, Food Network-style” kitchen that will set up students with cooking skills for life.
Kentwood Public Schools’ new state-of-the-art culinary arts space at East Kentwood High School includes two classrooms with eight cooking stations each, high-grade commercial equipment, and high-definition video monitors that allow students to watch their instructor do cooking demonstrations from across the room.
The 8,000-square-foot space more than doubles the capacity for how many students are able to take cooking classes at East Kentwood, from 300 to 600 a year, said instructor Nichole Dykstra, who leads the high school’s cooking program along with newly-hired Chef Donald Ram.
Ram said the new space “elevates” the way students think about a cooking career. Often times, students come into class thinking they’re just going to learn how to make a few meals for themselves. But after seeing their own potential in the kitchen, students expand their horizons about the culinary arts profession, he said.
“When they step into this space, it really changes their perspective of what we do, because it’s not like we’re just making a sandwich, you know, we’re making things from scratch,” Ram told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press . “We’re doing things that in culinary school they would do.”
“Right now, they’re in the mindset of, ‘I just want to cook for me.’ They don’t see it as a potential career. So this is where we start to kind of shift their mindset of, yes, we can cook for home, but we can also make a career out of it as well.”
During class on Monday, Nov. 20, East Kentwood senior Kamaria Dempsey whisked a creamy mixture in a bowl over a double boiler, careful not to get too close to the hot commercial-grade stove. The class was learning to make custard – something Dempsey had never made before.
Dempsey said she signed up for the cooking class because she heard the school was renovating its culinary arts space, and she wanted to put her cooking skills to the test. While she knew how to cook before, she’s learned a variety of new recipes and advanced techniques in the class, she said.
“We’re learning a lot of new stuff that we’ve never made before, so it’s cool because I get to go home and make this too,” she said. “We made egg rolls the other day, and I went home and made them again. It’s fun to actually know what you’re doing.”
Dempsey wants to go to Florida A&M University to pursue a degree in sports medicine when he graduates next year. But it’s nice to know she has the culinary arts to fall back on as a potential career, if those plans don’t work out, she said.
Senior Briana Heffron said the culinary arts class has been helpful in teaching her the basics of cooking, and she’s excited to take the more advanced level cooking class next semester. She said she is interested in pursuing a career in baking and cooking, as well as cosmetology.
“My dad has been in that kind of business for 30 years, so it’s always been something that I really love,” said Heffron, who plans to take a gap year when he graduates in the spring. “I love food, I love making food.”
East Kentwood currently offers two levels of culinary arts classes: Foods 1, an introductory class where students learn basic cooking techniques, measurements, nutrition, safety and sanitation; and Foods 2, where students dive into more advanced techniques and commercial-level cooking.
Ram said he is working to develop more advanced cooking classes at East Kentwood, where students can earn ServSafe certification and credits that can transfer to Grand Rapids Community College. Ram previously worked in GRCC’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education before coming to East Kentwood this year.
The new culinary arts wing also includes a café and a lounge that will eventually be used as a restaurant to train students in a commercial setting. Principal Omar Bakri said the goal is to develop a high-level class where students can learn about the entire restaurant experience, from cooking, to serving, to management.
“This space will be turned into a restaurant, let’s say once a month, where the kids will work front of the house and back of the house, creating a menu, inviting special guests like staff or their family, and they will have a true restaurant experience,” he told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.
East Kentwood High School has unveiled a new, state-of-the-art culinary arts space that will allow students to receive advanced cooking training. The 8,000-square-foot space includes two commercial kitchens and a lounge area, pictured here, that will be used by students as a restaurant in more advanced cooking classes. (Photo provided to MLive by Owen-Ames-Kimball Co.)Owen-Ames-Kimball Co.
The new culinary arts space was funded by a $192 million bond approved in 2021 by district voters in the Grand Rapids suburb. Part of the bond was intended to help the district update its vocational and career tech learning facilities, to offer enhanced career training opportunities to students.
East Kentwood’s newly expanded culinary arts program will allow students to stay right on the high school campus to get advanced culinary training, rather than having to travel to the Kent Career Tech Center (KCTC), the Kent Intermediate School District’s free career training program, Dykstra said.
“There are a lot of students who choose not to go to KCTC because they have to ride the bus for a long time or they don’t have the credits,” she explained. “And now kids have the ability to take cooking classes here, that might eventually be on level with that.”
Dykstra, who is in her sixth year of teaching at East Kentwood, said the new culinary arts space is a huge upgrade from the school’s previous kitchen lab, which was built in the 1970s and was small and cramped, with some equipment that no longer works .
“When you’re working in a homestyle kitchen, that equipment is not meant to be run for six hours a day and just constant use with 150 kids going through there,” she explained. “And now we have the ability to actually cook higher end products and transition to a more high-level and high-end type of cooking.”
“I am just grateful that we have this opportunity and that we can now be in a more functional space.”