INWOOD, W.Va. (AP) - Utilizing life skills learned in their Musselman High School career and technical education program, the school’s culinary students prepared meals for the first responders working local vaccination clinics, proudly giving back to those people the students said have constantly put their lives on the line to serve the community.
Rachel Nauman, the baking and pastry teacher for the career and technical education program, said COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world, and her course was no different, as she and her students have spent the last several months trying to find the balance between hands-on learning and maintaining the safety precautions necessary to keep people safe.
“This year is very different from any other year because of COVID. It’s put a different spin on the class, but it’s been a good spin,” Nauman said. “This has allowed us to focus on the minor details, to force the students to do more in-depth thinking on what they are doing and what they are serving. Through all of this, though, I try to teach them that it is crucial that we take care of the people who take care of us, and, by doing this, it makes the world much better.”
With this goal of service and hospitality in mind, Nauman said she and her students were more than up to the challenge when the high school’s principal suggested the culinary students cook and serve meals to the first responders helping to run the weekly vaccination clinics in Berkeley County.
“She knows we love serving our communities, and she thought we would do a great job,” Nauman said. “My students love taking care of people, so I knew they would love this chance to give back to more than just other students and teachers. And I know they all feel amazing after it was all said and done.”
With the challenge made, Nauman said she and her students began preparing a menu they felt would be filling for those they were serving and manageable enough for the students to make and transport, ultimately deciding to serve homemade BLT sandwiches, pasta salad, prepackaged bags of chips, bottled drinks and chocolate caramel brownies to round out the lunch service.
Working in conjunction with Allen Corbin, executive director of Martinsburg–Berkeley County Parks and Recreation, whose rec centers have hosted the vaccination clinics for months now, the students served the meals in labeled and individually packaged styrofoam takeaway trays, with chip and drink options laid out neatly so first responders could file through, grab their food and take a break to eat and relax.
With the meal service complete, Nauman said watching her students put all they had learned to the test was an exciting moment for her and a point of pride for both her and her class once food was distributed and bellies were filled.
Student participants TJ Stuckey and Jack Dobmeier, both first-year students in the culinary program, said though the pandemic has caused its stresses, they have found joy in the kitchen through Nauman’s course and were ecstatic to be able to share the things they had learned in just their short time in the program with those who serve their communities.
“Seeing their smiles makes me happy, and I was so excited to be a part of this, because I was ready to give back to people who take care of me, so to help them and brighten their day makes me happy,” Stuckey said.
With a successful meal service and the vaccination clinic’s first responders returning to their work with a free meal, the students who helped make it happen said they couldn’t be prouder of the food they provided and the message of gratitude they hope the clinic workers received from the meal.
“I was honestly very excited and honored when I heard we would be doing this, because I really thought the people we serve day to day here at school deserve our food, but these first responders, these guys who have been battling this virus since it started, I really thought they deserved a break,” said Dominic Marandola, who has been in the culinary program for three years. “I’m so proud of our group and what we were able to do here by giving them a good meal and a well-deserved break. It means a lot to me to be able to use my skills to give back to my community. This program has allowed me to really give back to the community I’ve been part of for so long and to those people who are so important to it.”
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