As high schoolers advance toward graduation, many important life skills gain more urgency. Budgeting, money management, basic car repair, and home maintenance are obvious examples. But one that is often overlooked is food preparation and general nutrition. We will all eat daily, but cooking and menu-building is seldom high on a young adult's to-do list. Chef Mark Maier is trying to change all that in the Kell Culinary Department.

"It's about giving the students real-world experience," said Chef Maier. "Not only are we teaching them to cook, but we are teaching the skills and techniques required in a private or professional kitchen. Culinary math and recipe conversion, staying within a budget, portion management, timing, and much more. Every detail is important, and we strive to instill that into the students here."

Chef Maier knows his subject well, having been in the food industry in various front- and back-of-house roles for several decades. He has been a restaurant owner and manager, doing everything from line prep to serving as an executive chef. He has worked in Michelin-star restaurants in the Los Angeles area and has been influenced by food from all over the world. Chef Maier has traveled extensively and lived in many different places, but food was the one constant in his ever-changing life.

"I love food, and I love cooking. It's always been my stress relief," Chef Maier said. "My Dad was a great cook, and I watched and learned from him growing up. I was always cooking for my friends, and I loved to have people over to hang out and get a great meal, too. Food was always a part of my life, and I love that I now get to teach others about it."

Chef Maier's students also learn much more than cooking and kitchen skills. "We teach them how to get a job and keep it. Employability and professionalism carry over into every field. The lessons they learn here make them better employees and better people no matter where they go or what they do."

Of course, everyone likes to eat, and food is a great unifier. Chef proudly says he has students from every interest and demographic in the school. "We get them all, from athletes and scholars to the science-minded and the artists. We get the gamut of students across the board, and I get to know all of them and teach them a skill they'll use for the rest of their lives."

Shane Brownlee, a Kell junior, is in her third year of culinary with Chef Maier. "I like the program, and I have decided to continue through with it mainly because of Chef. He is a great teacher and a great person in general. He keeps things interesting and gives us a variety of styles and foods to cook and learn about," Shane said with a smile.

While Chef Maier and his culinary students are making significant progress with basic equipment similar to what you find in most homes and apartments, the plan is to have a fully-equipped professional kitchen in the next several years. This would ramp up the program significantly and make it possible for students planning a career in the industry to get hands-on experience and feel comfortable transitioning into a professional kitchen.

"The new kitchen will be a huge selling point for the program," Chef Maier said. "The kids will see it being built and all the stainless steel and different appliances and equipment. It will help to draw more students in."

Another aspect of Chef Maier's teaching and real-world culinary experience is available to his students through Kell Catering. Aside from planning, prepping, and cooking in class, Kell Catering offers food and hospitality to groups outside of the walls of Kell High School. 

"We began as the Culinary Club, which eventually became Kell Catering," explained Chef Maier. "Students that really enjoy cooking are given the opportunity to work an event that helps to serve the community. We have done Honors Night dinners, Hall of Fame banquets, and meals for some of the sports teams. We have cooked for the Board of Education several times and catered the Teacher of the Year banquet. We even made barbecue for Keheley Elementary's Blues Fest last year. I have been blessed to always have more than enough students interested in participating in each event."

The coming professional kitchen will also be a huge benefit for Kell Catering. While Chef must currently limit what the program can agree to do, the new equipment and more efficient layout will create more opportunities for the young chefs to cook and serve delicious food to a wider area surrounding the school. 

"We will have a better ability equipment-wise, but it will always depend on having buy-in from the students themselves," Chef Maier said thoughtfully. "Kell Catering is not for me; it's for and by the students. As long as they continue to be motivated and excited to do these events, we will keep moving forward."

With Chef Maier's enthusiasm and optimism leading the Kell Culinary Department, motivated students will continue to appear, and Kell Catering will no doubt continue to grow. Teachers and leaders like Chef Maier make Cobb Schools unique and set the District's CTAE (Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education) Program above and beyond. It is just one more reason that Cobb is the Best Place to Teach, Lead, and Learn!