San Juan Bautista
– There’s a strong smell of vinegar, lemon and roasted garlic as
the students gather around the stainless steel workstation,
selecting the ingredients they will use to make a vinaigrette.
San Juan Bautista – There’s a strong smell of vinegar, lemon and roasted garlic as the students gather around the stainless steel workstation, selecting the ingredients they will use to make a vinaigrette.
The students are enrolled in a culinary arts program being offered for the first time this semester at Anzar High School.
Anzar’s new vocational education building has allowed the school to expand the program and introduce new classes to the school’s curriculum. The building was completed last year and opened for students to start taking the classes in January.
The $1.9 million building is divided into three classrooms specifically designed for teaching wood shop, culinary arts and visual arts courses.
The project has expanded Anzar’s vocational education and regional occupational programs.
“Our community and our educators believe that vocational education is really important, and that was one program we weren’t able to offer until now,” Aromas-San Juan Unified School District Superintendent Jackie Munoz said.
Currently all sections of the courses are full – and students say the classes are popular and enjoyable.
“Anzar is so small and we didn’t have much to choose from before,” 17-year-old Evelynn Medrano said. She said she was excited to be taking a culinary class in the new building.
“I’ve learned a lot because before I could just (cook) microwaveable stuff,” she said.
The culinary arts classroom has four fully equipped stations with sinks, gas stoves and stainless steel countertops, along with one demonstration station with an overhanging mirror so the students can easily see what their teacher is cooking. The classroom is also equipped with an industrial-size refrigerator and freezer and a convection oven.
“It’s different than the pie crust/biscuits home-ec that we had before,” Anzar Principal Charlene McKowen said.
In addition to the culinary arts classroom, the visual arts classroom has 30 new computers, each with up-to-date Photoshop equipment.
The wood shop class has several different types of saws and new equipment, and a dust collection system. The workshop is equipped for up to 24 students.
“I’m in heaven. I love it,” said Dan Daniels, the school’s woodworking teacher. For their first assignment, his students are making cabinets to go in the classroom.
Previously the only one of these courses offered year-round was the visual arts class, which students took in a room inside the library.
“It’s great because now everybody has their own computer and can be working (simultaneously),” 18-year-old Aurelio Calderon said of the new classroom and equipment.
The building was paid for by Measure S bond money. The project was the last of four projects paid for with the bond, which was passed in 2002.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at ajoy@
freelancenews.com.
