The culinary arts class at school is led by Nija Higgins who has been inspired by cooking since she was little and continues being inspired everyday by her students. Wingspan’s Amber Holt caught up with Higgins to talk about her passion and her program.

Wingspan: Why are you teaching culinary arts?

Higgins: “When I was a young girl I would go out into the neighborhood and get my cousins and teach them. Every year in elementary I would go to my teacher, ask for her old teacher from her extra worksheets, and gave them to her cousins. I knew I wanted to be a teacher but I didn’t know what I wanted to teach.”

Wingspan: When did you decide that you wanted to teach culinary arts?

Higgins: “I realized that I wanted to teach I noticed more of my grandmother’s cooking and I just fell in love with the kitchen. I was always around the kitchen, and I decided that I would fuse my two passions together into what I’m doing now.”

Wingspan: How your passion for cooking started?

Higgins: “I watched my grandmother all of the time. She has passed now, so I decided I have taken over her role to cook all of the holiday meals for the family. She always depended on me to be her sous chef in the kitchen, but when she couldn’t cook anymore she was in the kitchen with me as a taste tester. I wanted her to stay a part of the whole process and make it more special for us in her last years because she always wanted to make everything perfect and a lot of food so that if anyone needed any extra then it would be there.”

Wingspan: What is your main goal for teaching the class?

Higgins: “My goal is to make them self sufficient adults because there is a lot to cooking it’s not just culinary arts its safety and nutrition the overall well being of cooking. Also I want to teach them the medicinal purposes of food like how they can hurt or help us.”

Wingspan: What does a normal culinary arts class consist of?

Higgins: “With in the first semester we are going over certifications and they earn that certification during the year. We explore ethnic dishes, competitions, and the history, geography, and science of food. We bring in things like the history of breakfast and where chocolate comes from, just interesting things that help the students get a background of the food. The students came in thinking it was going to be an easy class, but they soon realized that it was not just a blow off class.”

Wingspan:  What is your favorite part of the class?

Higgins: “I love every aspect of cooking, but my favorite part is that I learn something new every year. Whether it’s from the students or from guest speakers, I just love  learning new things about what I love. The students are very inspirational because they learn these new things on there own time and when I see that they are inspired by the class I’m just so happy that I can learn something from them. For example this year we are learning molecular gastronomy which is making food look different than what it really is. The guest speaker came in and she was so passionate about the topic, and it was wonderful because I could see the students enjoying her love of the technique.”