Powhatan High School (PHS) Culinary Arts is one of the many CTE (Career Technical Education) classes that PHS has to offer. CTE classes are career planning courses that students can take depending on what field of work they want to go into. Culinary Arts has 3 levels, Culinary 1, Culinary 2, and Culinary 3. By taking Culinary, students can earn certain credentials for the workforce, such as ServSafe and ProStart certifications.

Culinary Arts teacher, Mr. Robertson has been teaching at PHS for 21 years. Prior to teaching, he was a restaurant manager for 16 years until he began studying at UVA to get his teaching license.

Every year, the Culinary students help put on banquets for certain classes at PHS. JROTC, Band, Show Choir, FFA, and Senior banquets are some of the most important dinners that they host. These banquets have been put on every year for 18 years now. Now because of Covid-19, it is completely undecided as to if they can be done.

Mr. Robertson collaborates with whatever class wants a formal dinner for their event and they set a date, time, price, and menu.  These banquets are usually hosted in the spring. Students look forward to these banquets every year. Prep work for these banquets are done in class by the Culinary students.

The banquets aren’t the only thing that has been affected by Covid-19. “Safety precautions and contact tracing” have impacted the kitchen the most, says Mr. Robertson.

Mr. Robertson hopes that this year we can get things back to normal again after not being able to do anything last year. He hopes to be able to host the banquets as well as Bailey’s Cafe, a lunch that they host, and inside dining for teachers. But for now everything is completely undecided. It really just depends on if big gatherings are going to be allowed.