Students explore their passion of cooking through the new club Cook’s Nook.
For years Kelsey Knobbe and Olivia Samuelson (11) have been looking to start EHS’ first cooking club Cook’s Nook. This year with the help of Ms. Leah Hornyan, FACS teacher, they have been able to finally make that idea a reality.
“I like cooking a lot, and I thought why not bring it to school? We have all the resources here, like the kitchens, and it’s a lot more fun to cook with your friends and other students,” Samuelson said.
After only one meeting, the club already has around 20 members.
Members enjoy the club because it lets them explore their love for cooking in new ways.
“The club will hopefully allow me to gain more general knowledge of cooking, much like a class but a much more informal environment,” Andrew Kurtz (11) said.
Clubs like this are vital to the success of the student body because they allows students to grow in their passions.
“This club is beneficial for anybody who wanted to be really specific about what they learn,” Ms. Hornyan said. “For instance someone may want to learn to cook something a certain way or decorate something in a different style.”
Other members have not been able to take many Foods and Nutrition classes, so this club allows them to explore cooking without scheduling conflicts.
“I’ve always wanted to take Food’s III, but my schedule hasn’t really allowed it so I thought it would be a good way to get into [cooking] again,” Alicia Buness (12) said.
The experience isn’t quite a free meal. For each meeting there is a small cost to cover the ingredients, usually around $2-$5, so students must sign up ahead of time in order for the correct amount of supplies to be purchased.
Some students feel that the club should be school funded.
“Some people like cooking and some people like sports and sports are funded by the school so why shouldn’t cooking be funded by the school?” Becca Weitzel (10) said.
For the club’s first meeting, Feb 29, they made cupcakes. For the second meeting, March 29, they plan on making gooey butter cake. “Right now we are focusing on baking more,” Knobbe said. ” Then I think once the club has been going on longer and everyone is a bit more adjusted to it then we will move on to cooking and harder dishes.”
Students must past a safety test before being allowed to cook in the club if they have never taken a Foods and Nutrition course at EHS. For the first safety meeting the turnout was low because not all students realized that it was mandatory. The club is now looking for new ways to administer safety tests while still allowing non-Foods students in the club.
Although the future is not clear for the Cook’s Nook one thing is; it is stirring up some big interest.
