Word of advice: do not go into Chef Carl Calvert’s kitchen on a completely empty stomach. The satisfying aroma of food being made will make anyone’s stomach growl.
However, if you are lucky, you will get to sample some of the students’ creations.
Wednesday morning’s menu included bacon-wrapped chili chicken bites and bacon cheddar phyllo cups. After listening to instructions from Chef Calvert, a group of students – all wearing aprons and gloves – created an assembly line in their classroom kitchen to cut up some chicken and bacon, roll the meat in bowls filled with the spices, skewer them on toothpicks and stick them in the oven.
Stratford High’s culinary arts program is the only one in the entire district, which means it's in high demand. There were more than 200 students who did not get placed in the program’s introductory class this year.
The students who do get into the program, and stay committed, are now preparing for jobs in the food service industry, which is the country’s single largest employer. Completing Stratford’s program can earn them jobs and college credit hours before they graduate high school.
Calvert has led the culinary arts program at the school for 18 years. He graduated from Johnson and Wales University’s culinary program in Providence and went on to fill a teaching assistant position while he pursued his graduate degree. He worked at the university for 15 years as an instructor between Providence, Denver and Charleston.
He moved to Charleston in 1997 to keep working for Johnson and Wales, but then the program moved to Charlotte. He started at Stratford High in 2003 after learning the school was looking for a culinary arts instructor.
Calvert now dotes on the support he receives from the school and the county.
The culinary arts program has two kitchens – one mainly for baking/pastries, and a newer addition that was completed in 2015. Students first take an introductory class led by pastry chef Elizabeth Clyde; this class involves a lot more book work, learning about weights and measures, and kitchen safety/cleanliness.
The facility is treated no differently than a regular restaurant; the program is DHEC-certified and receives two or three health inspections each year. Calvert takes the sanitation aspect of his classroom seriously. Students have to pass a sanitation certification test through a program called Servsafe in order to work in the kitchen.
Students really start the hands-on experience with cooking when they get into Culinary Arts 1, a double-block class that lasts one semester. Students who are really committed to the program go on to Culinary Arts 2, a 90-minute year-long course where students can do work-based learning through co-ops during the second semester. These students head to jobs working in the food service industry – places like restaurants and grocery store bakeries. Calvert said about 75 percent of his Culinary Arts 2 are in co-ops. They leave school around lunch to head to their jobs, where they receive hands-on experience.
Calvert used to serve as an adjunct teacher at Trident Technical College while teaching concurrently at Stratford. He set up a program where his Stratford completers can go on to Trident and walk away with nine credit hours under their belt, allowing them to bypass the first three culinary arts courses at Trident. Stratford also has a unique program with Trident’s baking/pastry division where if students take a practical test, they will get another class compensation – which is Intro to Baking – so they could actually walk away with 12 credit hours.
Calvert’s favorite part of leading the culinary arts program is when students show him dishes they made on their own outside of school; maybe students will repeat a dish they did in a class and put their own spin on it, or maybe they will make something completely different.
“That’s really the best thing because they’re doing what they’re being trained to do and they show enthusiasm for it by bringing the pictures in – so I love that,” Calvert said. “You want these kids to take what they learn and apply it.”
Calvert’s program caters a majority of Stratford’s sports banquets. Students also cater for district events. For example, they made the spread for the district’s recent signing day event. Culinary arts also does catering opportunities through its community partners, both within Berkeley County and beyond.
“We don’t have an end-of-course test here, so how do people know how well we do? So we have to do things outside of here to demonstrate that the kids are learning skills,” Calvert said. “Our caterings do our talking for us. If the county hires us, and other schools hire us, and private schools hire us…I guess we’re doing a good job.”
Junior Bricson Williams is in the Culinary Arts 1 class. Williams has always had a passion for cooking; his mother used to own a food truck so he used to help make dishes she would make. He was excited to learn Stratford High had a culinary arts program.
Williams pointed out it is not just about making food. The program is teaching students basic life skills that they can use even if they do not pursue a career in the food service industry.
“Learning is my favorite thing – learning different life skills he teaches us, learning different techniques and different tricks that you can use not just in culinary (arts), but also in real life,” he said.
Junior Bobby Gibson became interested in the culinary arts program when he first met Calvert; Gibson is a track and cross-country athlete at Stratford and has enjoyed the food Calvert’s class would provide his team.
Gibson is now in the Culinary Arts 1 class as well, and he came in with no prior cooking experience. He said it is a bonus that the students get to eat the food that they make, but he was really interested in learning how to cook for himself.
The class recently prepared a rice pilaf dish and he loved it so much he made it by himself at home – “and it was just as good,” he said.
Gibson said he is not sure yet what he wants to pursue as a career, “but if this career is as fun as this class, then I think it’s always a possibility.”
The main reason he likes the class, however, is he likes learning from Chef Calvert.
“That man’s a lot of fun to be around – that’s probably the main reason I decided to take this class,” Gibson said.
For Calvert, hearing how much his students enjoy the program reaffirms that he is making an impact.
“I like what I do, and I think it makes a difference,” he said.