Students at Edison Elementary School in Erie, Pa., are getting to practice their culinary skills through an after-school program put on by Metz Culinary Management.
The school, which is known for its wide variety of extracurricular programs, started cooking classes in 2021 at students’ request.
“It wasn't about the school administration determining, ‘Oh, let's have a cooking class for these kids,’” says Metz Regional Manager Jennifer Johns. “They asked these elementary school kids what would they want and they wanted the cooking class.”
Led by Metz K-12 Regional Chef Jessica Kremer, the weekly class teaches 18 to 20 students how to make a variety of dishes, and has become one of the most popular extracurricular activities at the school.
Keeping kids engaged
Each class begins with students washing their hands and listening to Kremer as she talks about kitchen safety before jumping into what they’ll be making that day.
Dishes have included chicken quesadillas, smoothies and scrambled eggs. Kremer made a point to select recipes that use simple ingredients often found at home so kids could apply what they learned outside the classroom.
“We hoped that they would take their knowledge that they learned in class and then go home and make food for themselves and/or their families,” says Johns.
Along with Kremer, two to four additional Metz staff members and one teacher are present to help during the class.
Due to their age, the students require one-on-one supervision when using kitchen equipment such as stoves. There is not enough equipment and adults for students to prepare their dishes at the same time, so Kremer makes sure each class includes a side activity to keep kids engaged while they wait for their turn to cook.
“We do things like exotic fruit tastings or vegetable tastings, food safety and nutrition things that can be run simultaneously while the kids are cooking, so they have something else to work on when it isn’t their turn to be at the stove or on the burners,” says Kremer.
Growing the program
The classes’ popularity continues to rise. At the start of this year, the team found out that the class had the longest wait list of all the after-school programs offered at the school.
“We had enough students to fill the class four times over,” says Kremer.
There are plans to potentially expand the program to include teaching additional classes during the school day for other students. Edison will also be constructing a new building in 2025, and plans are in the works to include a community room where future cooking classes can be held. Currently, the classes are taught in the cafeteria.
For now, Kremer is happy that the class continues to strike a chord with kids. Already, she has heard from previous students saying how much they enjoyed the class and that they’ve already put their newfound cooking skills to use.
“I had a student come up to me and remember me from the class and was able to tell me that he made his mom breakfast on her birthday,” she says. “It really warmed my heart to know that not only did he retain the information, but he wanted to do something awesome like make his mom breakfast.”